


A Broken Harmony (Anxiety Sanders Sides Story)

by TheDemonChick



Category: Sanders Sides, Thomas Sanders
Genre: Completed, Cute scenes, Depression, F/M, I'm Bad At Tagging, M/M, Optional Sex Scene, Panic Attacks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-16
Updated: 2018-03-16
Packaged: 2018-12-30 15:32:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 38
Words: 81,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12111783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDemonChick/pseuds/TheDemonChick
Summary: Harmony lived an average life. She worked two jobs, had a YouTube channel, lived with her friend since sophomore year of highschool, and always made time for her childhood friend in Pennsylvania.  So what happens when her friend, Thomas suddenly has four people appear based on different sides of his personality?





	1. Four new friends... and roommates... Yay!

I blinked a bit dumbfounded at the situation, “Well… it can’t be that bad right?”

Thomas gave me a incredulous look as he motioned to the four other versions of him which were talking quietly to themselves, “How is this not bad!?”

I snickered slightly trying to hold back my laughter, “I mean, think of it like having more friends… and roommates.”

He fell on the couch next to me laying his head in my lap and covering his face, “I don’t need more roommates! Just you is enough!”

I began to ran my fingers through his hair, which is how I usually help calm him down, “Come on Thomas. You just have to get used to it. Why don’t you try talking to them instead of letting them sit in the corner of the room whispering to themselves?”

“I don’t wanna…”

I giggled, “Then I’ll do it for you!” I turned to give a friendly smile at the personalities, “Hey! Would you all come here and sit for a moment?”

They all looked at each other before they walked over and sat down in various places. The one in the neck tie and glasses sat down in the spare chair in the room, the other one in glasses sat on the floor on the other side of the coffee table, the princely one sat on the far end of the couch, and lastly the darkly dressed one chose to sit right next to me on the opposite side of where Thomas was laying.

I kept my friendly smile, “So correct me if I’m wrong, you all are representations of different sides of Thomas’ personality.” They nodded. “Okay… How exactly are you… real?”

The one in the neck tie took the chance to speak, “We aren’t exactly sure ourselves. We just kind of came about today as you saw.”

I bit my lip in thought, “Well, I guess we can revisit that later on. Anyway, which side do you all represent?”

“I represent Morality!” The other one in glasses exclaimed cheerfully.

“I’m Logic.”

The princely one put a hand over his chest dramatically, “I am Thomas’ dreams and creativity! I represent all his hopes and-”

“You can just call him Princey.” The darker one interrupted blandly.

Princey gasped in offense, “How dare you interupt my beautiful speech!”

He simply rolled his eyes in return as he smirked at me, “I’m Anxiety.”

I nodded slowly, “Well, I’m Harmony, but I have a feeling you already know that.” I sighed slightly still running my finger through Thomas’ hair, “Well, this will be an interesting thing to get used to.”

Thomas groaned, “Why me?!”

I giggled again as he moved his hands to stare at me, “It’ll be okay Thomas.”

“But what if it’s not Harmony?” I turned to raise an eyebrow at Anxiety. He smirked, “What if other people discover us? What if Thomas is thrown into some lab to be experimented on? What-”

I simply smiled at him in a half kind and half malicious, ‘you better shut up’ way, “You’re spending a little too much time on ‘what if’s’ Anxiety. And yes I understand that’s your job but now really isn’t the time to make Thomas freak out over things we can’t foresee.”

Anxiety blinked at me in slight shock before grumbling and crossing his arms across his chest.

Logic cleared his throat bringing my attention to him, “So what do we do about this exactly? Hate to say it, but Anxiety has a point. Other people can’t find out about us. If they did, it’d most likely become some sort of news spectacle.”

I hummed biting my lip in thought, “Well… It’d be generally easy to hide you guys away from other people. You can hide away in rooms that people don’t go into when people are in the house, you can’t go outside too often and you have to be careful about who you talk to, and…”

Thomas narrowed his eyes, “You aren’t thinking what I think you’re thinking are you?” A smile blossomed on my lip despite me biting my lip to try and hide it. He groaned, “No!”

I laughed lightly, “Come on! It’d make people less suspicious!”

Princey smiled at me in a charming way, “Want to share your thoughts gorgeous?”

“Well as you know, Thomas has a youtube channel and has been focusing on it ever since Vine got shut down. He could potentially make a series involving you guys to make his fans less doubtful if they saw any of you in public. You guys just couldn’t be seen in the same frame or anything like that.” They were all silent deliberating what I had said. “If any of you were seen in public and stopped by fans then you could pretend to be Thomas dressed up like the character,” I reasoned logically.

Logic nodded slowly, “It makes sense logically and has an 80% chance of success.”

Morality smiled excitedly, “Yay! This sounds like fun!”

Princey was suddenly kneeling in front of me holding my hand against his chest, “That sounds like a wonderful idea, my darling princess.”

I could feel blood rush to my face, mostly from shock. 

I let out a slightly awkward laugh gently pulling my hand away from him, “Okay then! Um…” I quickly forced my mind to go back on track.

My attention turned to Anxiety who raised an eyebrow, “What?”

I giggled quietly giving him a smile, “Well, what do you think? You’re the only one who hasn’t said anything.”

He shrugged, “Sounds pointless but… fine I guess.”

I chuckled, “Well that settles that!”

Thomas groaned, “This is so dumb!”

I ran my fingers through his hair tenderly making him relax slightly, “It’ll work out Thomas.” He grumbled slightly. “What if we order pizza and watch some Disney movies? Will that make you feel better?”

Princey let out a sound similar to squeal startling me slightly, “Disney!?”

I shook off my surprise with a small chuckle, “Well, I guess I should have figured you guys would like Disney as well.”

Thomas sighed, “Fine, I guess.”

I ran my fingers through his hair one last time before letting him sit up. I stood up as well shooting a smile to everyone, “Well, you guys go ahead and pick some movies while I order pizza!”

I went into the kitchen and took out my phone. I mentally rehearsed what to say quickly, a bad habit of mine, before calling. I ordered easily despite the flaring anxiety in the back of my mind. 

“Bye!” I hung up and turned around only to jump at the sight of Anxiety not more than a foot from me leaning against the wall, “Oh! H-Hi, didn’t see you come in.”

He smirked, “So do you think your phone call went well?” I narrowed my eyes a bit which caused his smirk to widen, “I mean that little flub you made when you said hello and then again when you said your name? Pretty embarrassing.”

I forced a carefree laugh out of my mouth giving him a kind smile, “Yea but I shouldn’t focus on all the negative things. I mean he was awfully kind in not pointing it out and when I didn’t know which toppings to order.”

Anxiety let out a small growl, “What is with you?” I blinked before tilting my head. “I know you have the same type of anxiety as Thomas does, yet you don’t react to any bad things I try to bring up.”

I giggled a bit at how cute his frustrated expression was, “Well, I learned to deal with my anxiety a long time ago. I rarely struggle with it anymore.”

“That’s such a lie. I can feel how your anxiety is flaring at the thought of your flubs.”

I was a little shocked but played it off, “Sorry Anxiety, but I just don’t let it get to me anymore. Anyway,” I dragged before giving another kind smile, “Did you need something or were you just coming to bother me?”

His eyes narrowed sharply, “You can’t always be this optimistic. You have to have something that makes you angry, or sad, or something!” 

He walked closer before walking around me. It was comparable to a lion stalking his prey. He then leaned close to the side of my face. His breath blew against my ear and neck causing me to cringe away and blood to rush to my face.

He blinked in shock, “What just-”

“Nothing!” I cut him off in embarrassment, “A-Absolutely nothing!” 

He was staring at me before his eyes narrowed. He walked closer to me making me walk backwards, until I hit the fridge where he trapped me with his arms. If any of the redness in my face was fading before, it had returned full force. He leaned close to the my ear and blew his breath across it. It flew over the hollow of my ear and the beginning of my neck making me shiver unconsciously. I tried to lean away from him but there wasn’t really anywhere for me to go.

He let out a breathy chuckle making me cringe again, “Well this is cute.”

The doorbell rang giving me the perfect out.

“I’ll get it!” I shouted shoving Anxiety away and running to the door.

I could feel his smug smirk burning into the back of my head. I ignored it opening the door and greeting the delivery man. I took the two pizza boxes along with the thing of waffle fries I had gotten for me. I struggled for a moment before pulling out the money from my pocket and handing it to him.

I walked back to the living room setting the pizza down on the coffee table, “Hey Thomas. Can you get some paper plates?”

He nodded jogging into the kitchen and coming back with a small stack of plates. Everyone got their food before they played the movie, which was Sleeping Beauty. We all watched silently.

Until a hand reached over and took one of my waffle fries. I immediately glared at Anxiety as he munched on the fry. 

He smirked smugly, “Something wrong Harmony?”

I growled at him almost animalistically, “Don’t touch my fries.”

We both got into a gaze battle, I was glaring while he was simply smirking aloofy. I took small notice of the movie pausing and the others staring at us.

“Uh,” Thomas dragged in confusion, “Harm, is there a reason you’re glaring at Anxiety?”

“He stole a waffle fry.”

Morality laughed lightly, “Well sharing  **is** caring kiddo.”

Thomas chuckled nervously, “Yea, not when it comes to Harm and her waffle fries.”

Princey snickered slightly, “I vaguely remember you mentioning not to touch them. But why exactly?”

“Well, Harmony  **really** likes waffle fries and she hates sharing them with anyone. The last time someone tried to take a waffle fry Harm bit their hand.”

“Well, that’s a little primitive,” Logic said seeming a little surprised.

Anxiety smirked leaning so his face was only an inch from mine, “What’re you gonna do sunshine? If you bite me, I might just enjoy it.”

My cheeks flared and my glare faltered from pure embarrassment, “S-Shut up!” I quickly turned back to the movie ignoring Anxiety’s amused chuckle.

Thomas quickly played the movie, thankful I didn’t attack anyone.

We spent the rest of the night watching Disney movies and conversing lightly. I have to say, the personalities are quite a fun bunch.


	2. Shopping Trip!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harmony takes Anxiety and Princey shopping!

I sighed glancing at where Anxiety was arguing with Princey, “Do I really have to?”

Thomas gave me a dull look, “Yes! I took Logic and Morality, it’s your turn.”

I groaned, “But they argue so much! Plus Anxiety’s main purpose in life is to find some way to make me lose my cool!”

He smiled in a pleading way, “Please Harm!”

I blushed a bit looking away. He kept staring at me with his stupidly adorable brown eyes… 

I sighed in defeat, “Fine.” He cheered making a small smile overtake my lips, “But don’t blame me when I come home wanting to kill someone.”

“It won’t be that bad! Princey isn’t mean to you!”

I rolled my eyes, “No, he just flirts inncesantly.”

Thomas chuckled warmly, “It’ll be fine! You’re just taking them shopping for clothes.”

I sighed, “The things I do for you Sanders.” I walked over clapping my hands loudly causing both Anxiety and Princey to turn to me, “I’m taking you shopping today. So if you desperately need to do anything, do it quickly because we’re leaving in 5 minutes.”

Princey smiled at me in, a supposed to be, charming way, “I just need to fix my hair then I’ll be ready gorgeous.”

He rushed to the bathroom leaving me alone with Anxiety.

“So,” Anxiety dragged giving me a smirk, “You fall for Thomas’ little puppy dog eyes?”

I couldn’t help but chuckle slightly, “Yea, I’ve always been a sucker for them. That’s usually how he got me to step away from a fight.”

“You? Fighting?” I narrowed my eyes at him lightly making him raise his hands in surrender, “I didn’t mean it badly. It’s just… a little surprising. You act so happy and almost nothing gets to you.”

I let out a slight scoff, “Yea, I wasn’t like that back in high school.”

Princey joined us again, “Okay! Ready!”

I motioned for them to follow as I grabbed my keys and my bag. We headed outside and got to my car.

“This is what you drive?”

I raised an eyebrow at Princey, “Yes, something wrong with that Princey?”

He inspected the red jeep wrangler with mild surprise, “It’s a bit… bulky…”

I gave him a bland look, “I happen to like my jeep.” He smiled sheepishly making me roll my eyes, “Just get in the damn car.”

“Wait!” I raised an eyebrow at Princey again. “Can I have shotgun?”

“What?! No way!” Anxiety immediately protested.

They both began to argue back and forth like children. I rubbed my temple for a moment taking in a deep breath before…

“HEY!” Their gazes snapped to me with shock and little fear on their faces. I gave them both a small glare, “I am  **not** going to deal with you two arguing like school kids over every little thing.”

“You don’t control us!”

I smiled maliciously at Anxiety, “Just for that, Princey gets the front seat first.”

Princey cheered while Anxiety groaned. We finally got in the car, though Anxiety grumbled the entire time. We started our short drive to the mall. It was filled with Princey playing my Disney cd and singing nonstop. 

We pulled up and got out. When we were inside the mall I turned to them with a serious, ‘I will end you if you don’t listen’ expression.

I handed them each a phone, “Thomas thought it’d be a good idea to get you cell phones. So if we get separated we can text each other when and where to meet up.” I blew out a small breath, “Okay, do you guys have any idea where you want to go for clothes?”

“American Eagle.”

“Hot Topic.”

I sighed slightly, “Okay, well Princey?” He looked at me. “Can you go to American Eagle alone?”

“Sure.”

“Wait! Why can’t I got alone?”

I gave him a small glare, “Because I don’t trust you.” I them smiled at Princey, “Just text us when you’re done and we’ll meet you at the food court okay?”

“Of course, beautiful! See you soon!”

He left leaving me with a grumpy Anxiety. He didn’t say anything, just began walking to Hot Topic. I could tell he wasn’t happy with me so I stayed silent. We got inside and he began looking around, after I gave him some money. According to him, it was the little trust I could give him. I walked around a bit looking at different shirts and jewelry.

“Treble?”

I froze my blood running ice cold. I turned only to confirm my fears. Standing there was Taylor, my ex boyfriend.

I forced a smile to my face, “T-Taylor, hey!”

He smiled at me in that familiar sweet way that still made my heart skip a beat, “It’s great to see you. How have you been Treble?”

I swallowed hard trying, and failing, to hide my panic, “U-Um, I’ve been g-good. How about you?”

His smile turned into the corrupt one I remembered well, “I’ve been pretty lonely without you. I miss those nights where you would cuddle with me and tell me how much I meant to you.”

It felt like my lungs were going to collapse in on themselves. I hadn’t had to face him alone since our breakup. The last time I had seen him Mark was with me. And he was giving me that smile… the one he used to give me before he conned me into something.

I felt an arm wrap around my shoulders breaking me from my panic filled thoughts. I snapped my head up to see Anxiety standing beside me. He was glaring slightly at Taylor almost like he was trying to protect me.

Taylor’s smile faded into a hard look, “Who’s this Treble?”

“U-Uh, I-I…”

“Hi, I’m Anx.”

Taylor laughed a bit, “Some name you got there buddy.”

Anxiety chuckled back smiling in a malevolent way, “It’s better than Taylor. I mean that’s more of a chick name. Now if you’ll excuse us, we have to get going.”

He pulled me along gently keeping his arm around me tightly. I felt Taylor’s eyes burning into the back of my skull making my panic increase. Soon we were out of his range of sight and in a less crowded part of the mall.

Anxiety got in front of me putting his hands on my shoulders, “Hey, look at me.” I did so my fists clenched tightly at my sides. “Breath in for 4 seconds.” I followed his instruction not having much to lose. “Hold your breath for 7 seconds… now breath out for 8 seconds.”

I felt my muscles relax slightly as the ability to breathe properly came back. I kept focusing on breathing slowly until my panic fully receded.

“Thanks…”

“You’re explaining who he is later and why you had a panic attack because of him smiling at you.”

I chuckled weakly, “You wouldn’t be Anxiety if you just let it go.” I heard my phone go off ushering me to pull it out of my pocket.

Princey: I just got finished. Meet you in the food court in 5.

I texted back an okay before turning back to Anxiety, “Princey just got done. Why don’t we go get something at the food court before we head home?”

He nodded silently and we began walking. 

+_+_+_+_+_+_+

“How’d it go?”

I smiled at Thomas as I threw away my milkshake cup, “It was surprisingly okay!”

He chuckled, “Okay, what happened that made you so happy?” 

Anxiety shot me a glare, “Don’t you da-”

“Anxiety got hit on by some girl and was completely frozen! It was so funny!” Princey laughed loudly.

I snickered earning a dark look from Anxiety, “I’m sorry!”

“No you’re not! You were the first to start laughing at me!”

“Yea but I was also the one who actually helped you instead of standing there like a moron!”

“Hey!” Princey protested, “I helped too…”

Anxiety glared at him, “Flirting with the girl after Harmony got her away from me does not count as helping.”

Thomas struggled not laugh just smiling instead, “Well, you guys had an eventful trip.”

I chuckled lightly, “Yea, it was… pretty fun actually. Anyway, I’ve got to finish editing my video for tomorrow, call me for dinner.”

With that I jogged up the stairs and into my room. I sat down at my computer desk putting my headphones on and beginning my editing.

About 20 minutes into my playlist I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned seeing Anxiety. I quickly paused my music and put my headphones around my neck.

I smiled weakly at him, “I guess it’s later huh?”

He nodded sitting down on my bed, “I would say you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to but… I’m kinda curious.”

I took in a deep breath turning my chair to face him, “Taylor is my ex boyfriend…”

“Okay? That doesn’t explain why you had a panic attack from him smiling at you, albeit in a creepy way.”

I sighed hugging my arms around myself defensively, “He… wasn’t exactly the best guy out there. In short, he was rather controlling and clingy. He refused to let me leave until he approved how I looked and he was insanely jealous of any guy that even looked at me. He would put me down a lot and tell me that I was nothing without him. It got to a point where I was completely submissive to whatever he told me… I stayed like that for just over a year, until Thomas and my other friend Mark talked some sense into me and got me to leave. I-I’m sorry that you had to come and save me like that. It’s just… I haven’t had to face him alone since we broke up. The last time we ran into each other Mark was with me. I…” I let out a bitter scoff, “I’m still too weak to face him.”

“What do you mean?”

I chuckled humorlessly, “I spent a year being his bitch Anxiety. I lost all the strength and willpower I had to a man who treated me like dirt. And every time I see him I… I go back into that mind set. That if I don’t do what he tells me that I’ll never be loved again. I…” I shook my head realizing he probably couldn’t care less, “Nevermind. All of this is stupid.” 

I turn my chair back around and started to edit again. I heard movement behind me but I ignored it assuming he was leaving. 

Then I felt a hand on my shoulder, “You're not weak just because you can’t face someone who put you through hell. I can sense the trauma you have from being stuck with him. It’s completely understandable that you wouldn’t want to face him alone after what he put you through.”

I surprised him by laying my hand over his, “Thanks Anxiety…”

“No problem…”

It was silent for a bit, a comfortable silence. Soon enough he pulled his hand away and left my room. I sat there for another moment taking in what just happened before putting my music back on and returning to my editing, this time with a small smile covering my face.

Anxiety isn’t as bad as he makes himself out to be.


	3. Realizations and kisses.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harmony joins Thomas and the sides for a Q and A.

“What is up everybody!? Today, I am joined by Harmony!”

I waved at the camera with a smile, “Hey everyone!”

Thomas smiled, “And my personalities are joining in!”

The camera set up for this was quite challenging. We borrowed four other cameras to tape their sides.

“Hi everyone!” Morality exclaimed cheerfully.

“Salutations.”

“Hello everyone!”

“Hi…”

“Today, we’re doing a Q and A! So I asked on twitter for questions with the hashtag Ask Harmony and Sides. Let’s get started.”

I looked at the first screenshot, “First question is, If I had to pick one of the sides to cuddle with who would it be?” I smiled at the camera, “Probably Morality. He’s just so cute!”

“Yay!” Morality cheered happily.

Thomas chuckled before clicking to the next screenshot, “Anxiety, would you rather be stuck in a room with Morality or have to kiss Princey?”

Anxiety scoffed, “What kind of question is that!?” 

“Just answer it.”

“I’d much rather be stuck with Morality than have to kiss Sir-Sing-A-Lot.”

I let out a small giggle making him glare at me. I simply sent him a kind smile before looking at the next screenshot, “Harmony, would you please give Anxiety an angel kiss?” I furrowed my brows a bit scared, “What’s an angel kiss?”

Thomas was struggling not to laugh as he handed me his phone which had a definition. I read through it before I threw his phone back at him.

“No way!” I shouted my cheeks tainting red, “Why would you pick that question!?”

Thomas smiled, “It’s for fanservice Harm! Everyone's been shipping you and Anxiety after you mentioned you liked him in your video!”

It wasn’t a lie. In one of my gaming videos, I was doing a dating sim and was going after the ‘emo’ character, and I may have mentioned I liked Anxiety as a character.

“Wait, when was this?” Anxiety said giving me a confused look.

I chuckled nervously, “I was playing a dating sim… and I may have said I liked you as a character.” I shook my head going back to glaring at Thomas, “But still, I'm not doing that!”

“Please!” He pleaded using his stupid smile and puppy dog eyes.

I faltered looking away. It stayed like that for a few minutes before my resolve faded.

I sighed, “Fine! Just stop looking at me like that!”

“Yay! Anxiety switch places with me!”

“I didn’t agree to this! I-”

“Come on! It’ll be cute!” Morality cut him off shoving him onto the couch next to me.

Anxiety grumbled before turning to face me, “What’s an angel kiss anyway?”

I swallowed hard trying to push away the redness in my face, “J-Just close your eyes okay?”

He raised an eyebrow before doing as I said. I took in a deep breath before leaning up and gently kissing each of his eyelids. I felt him tense from shock before he relaxed slightly. I pulled away as quick as I could hiding my face in my hands. I could feel him staring at me in shock but I still didn’t move my hands.

Thomas and Morality both let out big Awes. 

“Well, I guess you guys are set up for the next question. Anxiety, what do you think of Harmony and will you kiss her nose for fanservice?”

“W-Well, Harmony’s cool I guess. She’s always there when I need help which is nice and s-she’s not a bad person in general… I guess. And do I have to?”

“Yes.”

He sighed before I felt him grab my hands. He moved them making me look at him. He kept a hold on my hands as he leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to the tip of my nose. If any of the redness in my cheeks had faded, it was immediately back to crimson. As he pulled away we caught eyes when we were about 3 inches apart. It was like someone put us in slow motion. I was unable to tear my eyes from his endless chocolate orbs. 

For once, they didn’t hold annoyance or irritation, they were soft as he gazed at me. It made my heart do flips in my chest, something I hadn’t felt in a long time.

“Ah! It’s so cute!”

Morality’s voice broke both of us out of our trance. I shook my head rapidly to clear it. We quickly got back with the video. I forced a smile the entire time to cover up the rapid beating of my heart.

+_+_+_+_+_+

“What do I do Mark?!”

He chuckled smiling at me through the webcam, “It’s not a bad thing to like someone Harm.”

I sighed continuing to run the brush through my hair, “But I haven’t liked anyone in a very long time!” Think about it, the first real relationship I got into was with Taylor and that ended badly so I stopped actively searching.”

“You were 25 when your relationship with Taylor ended right?” I nodded moving to the other side of my hair. “That means you haven’t liked anyone in 2 years! That cannot be true!”

I scoffed shooting him a glare, “I didn’t have time! I had to deal with my jobs, family issues, and my youtube channel. I kind of just… forgot about dating.”

“Forgot?!”

I giggled slightly, “Okay, that sounds bad but it’s true. I didn’t think about it… and I especially didn’t think it would be on a personification of Thomas’ anxiety.”

“True, that is a bit weird. But still! It’s wonderful for you to finally like someone!”

I sighed, “I… don’t know.”

“Don’t know what?”

“About any of this!” I inspected the ends of my hair, noting that I needed to redo my red dye, “Is it even… okay for me to like him like that? Does he feel anything for me? I mean, there’s a lot of questions and very little answers.”

Mark smiled at me running a hand through his dirty blonde hair, “Why don’t you just take some time to think over it? No one said you have to jump right into telling him how you feel. You can just think about it until you feel comfortable enough to decide on your feelings.”

I smiled, “That’s not a bad idea.” I threw my hair over my shoulder, “I really should cut my hair…”

“You say that all the time and every time you go to get a haircut you get maybe an inch off and let it continue to grow.”

“It’s past my butt now! Can you believe that!?”

“I can! Cause you never cut it!” I stuck my tongue out at him earning a wink, “You’re cute but I don’t swing that way.”

I let out a scoff of laughter, “You are so pervy!” I giggled, “Anyway, I got to get to bed. It’s nearly 12 and I have work tomorrow.”

“Which job?”

I rolled my eyes, “The actual one.”

“You don’t count-”

“No I don’t. Because I only get to keep the tips I get.”

“But it’s the sexier job.”

“And on that note, I’m ending this call. Night Mark!”

“Night Baby!”

I ended the facebook call with a big smile on my face. 

“Who was that?”

“Jesus!” I jumped turning my chair to face an annoyed Anxiety, “What the fuck dude!?”

He narrowed his eyes, “You’re not answering my question.”

“You mean Mark? He’s my friend.”

He scowled, “Then how come we haven’t seen him at all?”

I smiled amusedly at him as I raised my eyebrows, “Maybe because he lives in Pennsylvania? What is up with you? You’re acting like a cat who hasn’t gotten fed.”

I was pleasantly shocked when his cheeks burst into a red color, “I-I was just curious jeez…”

My smile widened into a full blown grin, “Are you… jealous of Mark?”

“What!? N-No! Of course not! Why would I be jealous of that guy!? Anyway, I gotta get to bed! Night!” He rushed out without another word leaving me grinning like an idiot.

I giggled a bit rolling my eyes as I started to lay down for bed, “Oh Anxiety, what to do with you?”


	4. Babysitting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harmony gets roped into babysitting her two nieces and two younger siblings.

“No! Sophia, do not tug Candy’s tail!” I turned seeing Jessica was about to fall off the couch. I quickly swooped in and caught her in my arms. I lifted her up and swirled her around making the little blonde girl giggle before putting her on my hip, “You are just a little troublemaker today aren’t you?”

Then there was a knock at the door.

“Can you get it Hope?! I’m busy brushing my hair!” Noel called from the upstairs bathroom.

“I’m busy too!” Leon also shouted before I could even ask.

I groaned walking over to the door and opening it with a forced smile. I was a little surprised to see Anxiety standing there with his hands shoved into his hoodie pockets awkwardly.

I then felt a sharp tug on my hair making me wince. I quickly grabbed the locks of hair from Jessica’s grasp, “No, Jessie. Bad, we don’t pull on people’s hair.”

Anxiety snickered slightly, “So babysitting? This is why you’re late?”

I furrowed my brows as I again pulled my hair from Jessica’s grasp, “Late? What time is it?”

He checked his phone quickly, “4:30, which means you’re an hour and a half late coming home.”

I sighed giving him an apologetic smile, “I’m so sorry Anx! As you can see, I’ve got my hands full with- No! Sophia, we do not chew on crayons! Ugh!” I smiled at Anxiety quickly, “One second!” I rushed over and pulled the green crayon out of her mouth making her whine, “No! Crayons aren’t food Sophia.”

I heard the door close as Anxiety stepped inside, “Seems like you’ve been having fun.”

I sighed tiredly as I set Jessica down on the floor and then turned to face him, “My mom and dad are out on their date night, same goes for Caleb, and Kayla is busy with her job at the library so that leaves me with four kids to take care of. It’s been pretty exhausting.”

Anxiety smiled a bit in amusement before his hand reached up and he plucked at red sparkle from my hair, “I can tell. Why did you offer to watch four kids?”

I groaned running a hand through my hair, “I offered to watch Sophia, Caleb’s daughter but then my sister Kayla got called into work and she had no one to watch Jessica so I took her. And then my mom and dad suddenly leave, leaving me with Leon and Noel. Granted they are 14 so they aren’t as difficult as Sophia and Jessie but it’s still… trying.”

“I can stay to help out if you want. I mean, I’m not exactly excited to go back to Princey going on and on about Valentine’s day coming up.”

I smiled at him kindly, “That would be amazing. Thank you Anx.”

“Don’t mention it.”

I heard feet trample down the stairs before Noel appeared with a very annoyed expression, “Hope! Leon stole my makeup bag!”

“No I didn’t!” Leon shouted as he appeared behind her.

“Yes you did!”

“Why would I want your stupid makeup!?”

“You were the last one in the bathroom so you must have it!”

“HEY!” They both stopped arguing turning to me. I crossed my arms at them, “Noel, I seriously doubt Leon would want your makeup bag.”

She groaned, “Then where is it?!”

I sighed in annoyance giving a quick smile to Anxiety, “Would you mind watching Sophia and Jessie while I go look for Noel’s makeup bag?” 

He smiled slightly, “Sure.”

I jogged up the stairs after Noel and began looking around the bathroom. It was easy to find her makeup bag, which somehow ended up behind the toilet. I quickly headed back downstairs smiling at the sight of Anxiety drawing with Sophia while Jessica was playing with his hair. Jessica was putting little clips into it and brushing it with her Disney princess brush.

I quickly took out my phone and took a picture. I texted it to Thomas first with the message ‘He has a soft side?’ and then to Mark with the message ‘My heart can’t take it’.

“You did not just take a picture of me did you?”

I smiled at Anxiety playfully, “So what if I did?”

He laughed humorlessly as he stood up, “Oh no. You are not keeping that.”

I bit my lip backing away from him a bit, “Who’s gonna stop me?”

He grabbed for me causing a small scream from my throat as I dodged to the side. I ran around him and into the dining room. He chased after me leaning on one side of the table.

He raised an eyebrow in challenge, “You really gonna play this game?”

I smiled at him playfully, “Game? What game? I just took an innocent photo and now you’re being a bully.”

He smirked at me as he moved to one side a bit, “You’re gonna lose Harmony.”

I gave him a challenging grin as I moved the opposite way, “Wanna bet?”

He then ran the opposite way that he had moved making me scream again. I quickly ran out the back door and into the backyard. I then felt arms wrap around my waist pulling me back.

I laughed loudly giving a small squeal as I struggled, “No! Anx!”

He chuckled in my ear earning a small cringe from me, “Are you going to delete the picture willingly or do I have to do it myself?”

I turned my head to give him a tricksy smile, “You can’t make me~.”

He then tried to grab the phone from my hand but I quickly tucked it to my chest so he couldn’t get it. I squealed a bit as he dug his fingers into my sides to try and pry the phone from my grasp.

“Is this what you do when I leave my kid with you?”

I jumped in surprise losing my focus which in turn gave Anxiety the chance to grab the phone from me.

I groaned trying to get it, “Give it back Anx!”

He held it over my head with a smirk, “Jump for it monkey!”

I glared at him trying to reach it on my tip toes. Unfortunately Anxiety was the same height as Thomas so he was a good 8 inches taller than me.

I sighed giving up and turning to a very amused Caleb, “Hey Caleb!”

He chuckled, “So who’s this Hope?”

“Hope?”

I chuckled nervously, “Caleb, this is Anx. He’s a friend of mine. Anx, this is Caleb, my younger brother. And I’ll explain that later Anx.”

Caleb smiled sticking out his hand, “It’s nice to meet you.”

Anxiety quickly shook it, “Yea, you too.”

“I’m guessing my sister conned you into helping watch the kids.”

“Hey!” I protested quickly, “I do not con people. And he offered to help, thank you very much!”

Caleb smirked before I was pulled into a headlock, “Are you sassing me Hope?!”

I groaned struggling to get away, “I swear to god Caleb if you mess up my hair I will end you!” I then jabbed his side making him let go. 

Caleb groaned and held his side in an exaterated manor, “Why do you hit so hard!?”

I smiled daringly before forcing him on his knees and putting his head in a headlock. He groaned trying to pull my arm off. 

I laughed loudly as I noogied his head, “To remind you who the older sibling is!” I then let go letting him fall to the floor in an over the top fashion, “Get up you pansy.”

He laughed getting up and dusting off his dress shirt, “Sophia wasn’t too much trouble right?”

“Aside from trying to eat crayons constantly, she was alright.”

I heard the front door open before Kayla’s voice shouted, “I’m so sorry that took so long!”

I chuckled, “It’s fine! Come back here and meet my friend!”

Soon the brown haired girl walked out on the back porch giving a tired smile, “Hi, I’m Kayla, Hope’s younger sister.”

“I’m Anx.”

Kayla smiled at me slyly, “So-”

I cut her off by lightly smacking her head, “No! Bad Kayla!”

She whined jokingly before chuckling, “Fine, I won’t pick… for now. Anyway, Jessie wasn’t too bad was she?”

I scoffed, “Yea, she was pretty good when she wasn’t trying to rip the hair follicles out of my head.”

Kayla smiled in amusement as she noted the clips in Anxiety’s hair, “Yea, sorry. She has a thing for hair.”

Anxiety simply shrugged as he pulled one of the clips out, “If that’s the worst thing the kid does to me then I’m cool.”

I sighed, “Anyway, me and Anx gotta get home. I was supposed to be home an hour and a half ago.”

Kayla smiled apologetically, “I’m sorry that I was late. Some boys decided to mix a bunch of books up and I had to stay to clean them all up.”

Caleb gave a similar smile as he rubbed the back of his head, “Yea, I ended up having to take Christine home because she got sick.”

I waved a hand dismissively, “Don’t sweat it. Despite it all, I like watching my nieces. And to make it up to me, you guys can stay and watch Leon and Noel.”

Caleb gave a confused look, “Where’s mom and dad?”

“Date night.”

Kayla let out a hiss, “Yikes, must have been a pretty bad fight then.”

I nodded widening my eyes a bit in agreement, “Yea, it was not pretty. But I’ve seriously got to get home before Thomas gets worried.” I gave them quick hugs.

Kayla smiled in an excited and hopeful way, “Are you going to come over for mother’s day next month?!”

I hesitated, “I-I don’t know…”

“Come on,” She whined slightly, “You haven’t gone to one in three years since Ta-”

I cut her off with an obviously forced laugh, “Okay! No! We do not need to relive those memories!”

She sighed before giving me a pleading smile, “Please, think about it. Mom would be ecstatic for you to come.”

I forced back the bitter scoff that wanted to escape me giving a forced smile instead, “I’ll think about it Kayla.”

I gave the kids a quick hug bye before me and Anxiety started the walk to the house. It was comfortably silent for a bit until…

“Why’d they call you Hope?”

“Because that’s my name…” I grumbled a bit grudgingly.

“I thought your name was Harmony… I mean that’s what everyone calls you. Thomas has always called you that!”

I sighed slightly running a hand through my hair causing a few stray sparkles to fall out, “Because I hate my name with a passion.” 

“Why?”

“Because it’s not true!” I exclaimed in slight anger before sighing again. I took in a deep breath before speaking, “When I was born, the doctors told my mom that she most likely would not be able to have more kids… so they named me Hope… I was the hope that I would be a great kid. That I would make them proud. And then when I was 3, Caleb came along… and then when I was 7 Kayla came along. Then Stevie at 8, and Leon and Noel at 13. And then I… started to fall asleep in class because I was too busy taking care of all my siblings at night. While my mom and dad fought over every little thing they could find to disagree on! Instead of being a great kid, someone to make them proud, I turned out being the disappointment. Caleb was the one who became a doctor and was first to get married and have a kid… Kayla is sort of on the same level. She got pregnant at 17 and had to drop out of school, get a GED, and work as a librarian. Oh and Stevie! He’s becoming a scientist and is at the top of all of his classes! And then Leon is another boy genius and Noel is the proud artist! And me…” I felt all that bitterness start to fade leaving me with a deflated feeling, “I’m working two jobs just to cover  _ half _ of the rent and doing youtube as hobby…” I gave a hollow chuckle, “I’m a complete failure… and to top it all off, I haven’t shown up to their little mother’s day party in three years because when I went the last time, I was dating Taylor! And he completely tore me down in front of my entire family and made me feel even more worthless! I failed at being Hope… that’s why when I started youtube, I named my channel HopelessHarmony. Harmony was the name I went by in school, which is why Thomas has always called me it and then Hopeless… because that’s what I am…”

I felt arms wrap around me tightly making me freeze in my tracks. Anxiety’s head was rested on my shoulder, his breath blowing over my ear every so often making me shiver, and his arms were wrapped around my waist from behind pulling me back against his chest. I felt… safe and warm in his arms. Like nothing could hurt me while I was in them, not even my own self hate. I couldn’t help but relax into his chest unable to push away the warmth he gave me.

“I don’t know what you see when you look at yourself, but I see a beautiful, smart, talented, and caring girl who’s view of herself has been tainted by what others have told her. I can’t say anything inspiring or witty that will magically change how you view yourself, but I will spend the rest of my days convincing you that you aren’t as bad as you think you are.”

I shakily moved my hands to rest over his arms. “Thank you,” was all that brokenly tumbled from my mouth. 

We stayed like that for a while, probably looking like crazy lovers enjoying each other’s company. As much as I didn’t want this to end, he slowly pulled away from me and we went back to walking silently.

When we got home I simply went up to my room ignoring the questions from the others. I vaguely heard Anxiety explaining things as I shut my door. I laid down on my bed and stared at the ceiling.

A smile grew on my face as I closed my eyes and remember the feeling of being in his arms. I drifted to sleep with a warm feeling buzzing around in my chest.


	5. We all have our bad days.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anxiety tries to help Harmony out of her bad mood.

**Anxiety's POV**

 

I knew something was off the minute I walked downstairs. Mainly because Thomas was pacing back and forth while on the phone with somebody.

“Seriously Mark, I've never seen her this bad! She wouldn't even say more than two words to me!” He paused to hear the person’s response before sighing, “Well what do I do? I already called her work and said she was sick but I still can’t get her to even move!” He paused again before giving a defeated sigh, “I’ll try not to worry. I just hate when she gets like this. Bye Mark.”

He hung up rubbing a hand over his face.

“So what’s going on?”

He jumped a bit looking over to me with a stressed smile, “Hey Anxiety. I… uh…”

I raised an eyebrow, “I’m assuming something’s up with Harmony considering you just got off the phone with that Mark guy she talks to.”

He let out another sigh rubbing his eyes, “Harmony… has these days where she gets really depressed. She’s usually good at pushing away her bad thoughts and anxiety but there are those days where she can’t handle it. So she usually stays in her bed and kind of just… sits there.”

I frowned a bit looking up the stairs. That would explain the rolling feelings of self hate and sadness coming from her room. It’s hard to imagine her being depressed, she’s always so happy and cheerful. But I guess anyone can hide things behind a smile.

“Could I try to talk to her?”

Thomas’ eyebrows raised in shock, “You sure? She doesn’t really act like herself when she’s like this.”

I nodded giving a small shrug, “Might as well give it a shot right?”

He smiled a bit, “Thanks.”

I simply gave another nod before jogging back up the stairs. I went to Harmony’s door and knocked.

“Go away.”

I almost winced at how cold and distant her voice sounded. Like she was too lost in her depression to care about the people around her. I ignored her request and walked in. The room was dim, the only light being the stray sunlight peeking through her grey curtains. I frowned at the sight of her. She was curled up on her bed under her blankets, her grey eyes staring blankly ahead of her. I walked over sitting on the edge of her bed.

“You okay?”

She didn’t give a response simply turning to face the wall. I was slightly unsure of how to approach her. Sure, I could calm her down from a panic attack but I didn’t know how to make her less depressed. I could tell she was hoping for me to leave her alone but I was just as stubborn as she was. I laid down next to her putting my hands behind my head.

I didn’t look at her despite feeling her glance at me. It was silent for a bit both of us just laying there and waiting for the other to make a move.

You can imagine my surprise when she slowly turned back over and laid her head on my stomach, her hand shaking lightly as it rested on my side. I struggled but managed not to tense up at the feeling. My heart sped up a bit but I ignored it.

“You wanna talk?”

She shook her head slightly, “Not yet…”

Her voice was softer now, and less distant but you could still hear the sadness lingering in it. I didn’t know what else to do, so I simply stayed where I was. It felt a little awkward to me, considering in normal circumstances Harmony would never do this. My heart was rejoicing from being this close to her but part of me felt as if I was almost taking advantage of her weakened state.

“My mom called…” She blew out a shaky sigh, “She said that I shouldn’t bother to come to the mother’s day party… B-Because I wouldn’t have enough money to get an actual gift.”

My arm moved on it’s own, gently wrapping around her shoulders and trying to comfort her, “That’s screwed up.”

She chuckled defeatedly, “I told you, I’m the failure in my family. While my siblings bother to care about me, my parents don’t. They act snide and rude whenever I’m around… W-What did I do wrong?” 

I could hear her gulp, the sound causing me to look down at her. Tears were running steadily down her face as her fist clenched around my shirt. She was struggling not to make noise. I began to panic a bit, not really knowing how to comfort a crying girl. I wracked my brain for a moment before sighing. I wrapped my arms around her pulling her up so her face was in the crook of my neck. My pulse quickened as her hand moved to hold my hoodie trying to pull me closer. She let out little sniffles and whines as she cried making my heart ache for her. I didn’t know what to say, so I opted for silence as I rubbed her back and held her close. 

After what seemed like hours, which in reality was maybe 30 minutes, she finally calmed down. Neither of us moved from our comforting position. I could feel her soft breaths against my neck as she cuddled into me. I took in a slow breath building up enough courage to speak.

“Feel better now?” She nodded weakly into my neck. 

We fell into another silence. I struggled not to tense up as her lips brushed against my neck. I knew she was simply trying to find a more comfortable position, not trying to tease me despite the way it made my heart stutter. 

She let out a small contented sigh, “Thank you… for not leaving when I ignored you. No one is usually able to help me when I get like this, not even Thomas.”

I swallowed back my nerves as I held her closer, “I had to at least try. I… don’t like seeing you like this. Sadness doesn’t suit you.”

She let out a small giggle making a small smile come to my face, “You really know how to make a girl feel better.”

I let out a small chuckle, “Glad you think so. Because I’m totally winging this.”

She giggled again snuggling into me slightly, “I figured as much. You aren’t really the soft, feelsy type.”

“Nah, that’s Morality’s job.”

We again fell into silence but this time it was much more relaxed. I could still feel the light self hate coming from her. I tried to think of something that would make distract her from all her bad thoughts before an idea popped into my head. I glanced at her nightstand reaching over and grabbing her earbuds. 

“What are you doing?”

I pulled out my phone plugging the earbuds in and handing her one, “Distracting you.”

I could feel her smile slightly as she put the earbud in. I put the other one in my ear before putting on my playlist. She relaxed into me as the acoustic version of Dial Tones played in our ears. We sat in silence just enjoying the song.

“Can you sing?”

“I guess. Why do you ask?”

She shrugged her shoulders up a bit, “I was just curious. I know Thomas is an exceptional singer, so I wondered if you sides got that as well.”

I chuckled lightly, “Some of us did. I know Princey can sing and I can. Logic isn’t much for singing and I don’t know about Morality.”

She hummed lightly, “I wouldn’t picture Logic as the singing type.”

Soon we were in a random discussion about bands and singers. It was rather pleasant. I felt relaxed and at ease for once. And I know Harmony felt similar by the way she was talking and laughing. I considered it a small, personal victory for making her feel better. Granted I didn’t exactly get her out of her bed but still, I got her talking more and laughing which felt amazing.

Plus, I snuck the chance to get close to her. Never would admit it to another living soul but I really liked cuddles, probably because Thomas did. Nevertheless, it felt amazing to be cuddling with Harmony, even if it was just for the day.


	6. Why me?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Princey walks in on Harmony doing something she doesn't want the others to know about.

Dress: 

 

 

There was nothing like relaxing on your bed on your day off from work, especially with some nice fanfictions. 

Yea, I know. It’s a little weird and slightly narcissistic to read fanfictions about yourself but in my defense I only do it because I enjoy the creative writing. Granted I would never admit to reading reader inserts, let alone shipping fanfictions. 

“Hey Harmony!”

I jumped quickly shutting my screen off. I smiled nervously at Princey who was right at my door giving me a quizzical look, “Y-Yes Princey?”

He smiled a bit as he walked closer, “What’cha up to?”

“N-Nothing…”

He then suddenly grabbed my phone from me. I immediately jumped up and tried to take it back. He held me back with one hand while he opened the phone and began looking at my open windows.

“A JD x reader? Interesting. Didn’t take you as the type to read fanfiction.”

“Please give it back!”

He smirked slightly, “Well now I have to know what you’re hiding.” He flipped to the next tab, “A Connor Murphy x reader. You’re really into the dark ones aren’t you?”

I began to panic as I desperately tried to break his little hold, “Princey!”

It was too late. He had flipped to next tab. 

He squinted his eyes for a moment, “An Anxony one shot? What is this?” He read a couple lines before his eyes widened in shock. His gaze flickered down to my embarrassed face, “Is this…” He trailed off.

I was getting redder and redder as the seconds passed. I didn’t know what to say. Honestly, what would  **you** say if one of your roommates caught you reading a fanfic about you and another roommate? I guess that really isn’t a common occurrence, but still it was embarrassing.

“I… have a totally rational reason as to why I was reading it…”

He raised his eyebrows crossing his arms, “I’m waiting.”

I chuckled nervously, “R-Research?” He simply smirked at me making me groan in annoyance, “Okay! I was reading it for fun, so what!?”

“Oh, so you wouldn’t mind if I showed this to Anxiety?”

“Don’t you dare!”

He chuckled, “I won’t, on one condition.” I nodded for him to continue. “You have to tell me why you were reading it in the first place.”

I groaned snatching my phone from him, “I like creative writing and one came up in my recommended so… I clicked on it… and then continued to read random one shots until just now.”

He smirked again, “So you and Anxiety huh? I guess that would explain the little looks you two share and why he spent the entire day in your room last week.”

I scowled at him, “It isn’t like that! We’re just good friends!”

“Good friends who like each other but are oblivious to how the other feels.”

I blushed slightly, “A-Anxiety doesn’t like me like that.”

“You never denied liking him,” Princey pointed out with a sly grin which widened when I stayed silent, “You do like him!”

“So what if I do!?”

“Does Anxiety know of your little crush?”

I growled at him, “I swear if you tell him I will end you!”

“I won’t tell but…” He trailed grinning slyly.

“But what?” I grunted scowling a bit.

“You have to do something for me.”

I narrowed my eyes, “What?”

His grin widened…

+_+_+_+_+_+

Thomas was staring at me in amusement and shock, Logic was just raising an eyebrow at me seeming perplexed, Morality was currently awing and fangirling at how ‘cute’ I was, and Anxiety… He was struggling to hide his laughter.

I could have handled him asking for a  **simple** favor, even an embarrassing act but  **this** , is just cruel. He could have asked me to yell something out the window or run around screaming ‘I’m a unicorn’ but no! He had to go and pick out my old prom dress and make me  **wear it** .

I would’ve been fine with this had my prom dress not been something Mark had literally dared me to buy when he came to visit. It was a hot pink, strapless dress that went down to the floor and had little designs of silver flowers decorating the bodice and down the front lace of the skirt. He even made me wear the small tiara I got for getting runner up as prom queen.

A permanent scowl was glued to my face as Princey laughed, “Can I change now?!”

“What was the agreement?” 

“You do realize I have to go grocery shopping right?”

“Ah, ah, ah. What was the agreement?” I stayed silent causing him to smirk, “Unless you want me to tell  **everyone** …”

“Wear it for the rest of the day,” I grumbled out glaring at the him.

He smiled, “Come on, it isn’t that bad! You look gorgeous!”

“I look like a fucking flamingo!”

“Awe, come on Harmony! You look so cute!” Morality fangirled.

Thomas snickered slightly, “And here I thought you threw that thing away.”

Logic tilted his head, “I wonder what could be so bad that she endures this instead of just letting him tell us.”

I blushed slightly shooting him a glare, “Well too bad you’ll never know.”

He blinked at my hostility, “Someone’s angry.”

I motioned to the dress, “I have a right to be!” I then groaned, “How am I supposed to go to the grocery store dressed like  **this** ?!”

Anxiety finally seemed to recover from his laughing fit, “I’ll go with you if you want.”

I narrowed my eyes at him, “You just want to see my embarrassment.”

He smirked, “Yes but I can also help protect you from creeps.”

I growled lowly, “Fine, but one word about this dress and I  **will** end you.”

He nodded in agreement still smirking obnoxiously. I grabbed my bag and my keys before we headed to my car. 

I reluctantly turned to Anxiety who was still staring at me in amusement, “I… I can’t drive in this.”

He let out a snicker, “Is that your way of asking me to drive?”

I threw the keys at him and hopped in the passenger side, grumbling as I made sure my dress didn’t get caught in the door. We began our drive in silence aside from the faint music playing from the radio.

Then Anxiety turned it down, “Alright, what the hell did Princey catch you doing that you’d rather wear this than have him tell us?”

I groaned letting my head thump back against the seat, “He caught me reading fanfiction… and discovered a secret I have been keeping for a while now, which I am  **not** telling you, and agreed not to tell in exchange for this.”

“Must be some pretty intense secret for you to put that thing on. Also, what’s with the tiara?”

“Princey found it in my closet in the same box with the dress.”

“And you have a tiara because?” He trailed as he pulled into the parking lot.

“I won runner up as prom queen,” I grumbled reluctantly.

Anxiety sputtered for a second before laughing loudly, “You!? As prom queen?!”

I scowled at him giving him a small, but firm punch to the shoulder before getting out of the car. I ignored the blatant stares that were coming my way from shoppers and stormed inside. I grabbed a cart and headed for the cereal aisle. I was vaguely aware of Anxiety following as he finally finished his laughing fit.

“So prom queen huh?” I simply ignored him finding my Fruity Pebbles. He sighed but I knew he was still smirking, “I’ll say I’m sorry if you tell me how the hell you ended up running for prom queen.”

I took in a deep breath before turning to him a blank look, despite the sadness that flared in the back of my mind, “I was the tough girl in high school, I was the one who fought anyone who stepped up. And I didn’t hold back on them, not caring whether or not they were younger or weaker. So a group of more popular girls who were on the dance squad and the prom committee thought it would  _ hilarious _ if they put me on the ballot and watched me flounder because I couldn’t be girly enough to win. It backfired because half of the school thought it’d be funnier to see me walk up on stage and either win or get runner up. I was lucky enough that I didn’t win and didn’t have to go through the pictures or the horrible king and queen dance.”

Anxiety was frowning and I knew he had felt the negative emotions that were in the back of my mind, “I’m sorry…”

I shook my head turning to push the cart to the next aisle, “It doesn’t matter. It happened a long time ago and I don’t particularly care anymore.”

“So can I ask what happened then?”

“What’dya mean?”

He chuckled, “You sure as hell don’t fight people now. Hell I’ve only see you depressed once and you rarely lose your cool. You even held back today when you had to show us what you were wearing for the day.”

I sighed sadly as I grabbed lunch meat, “Did Thomas ever tell you about what I was like when I moved here?” I saw him shake his head out of the corner of my eye. I took in a deep breath turning to him with a dull but open expression, “As you already know, I have a lot of family issues. And when I lived with my parents I had to take care of making sure my siblings were safe. That meant I barely got time to myself or to have friends and do anything a normal teenager would do. I…” I hesitated slightly before pushing myself away from the closed off part of me as I continued to shop, “I had a lot of trouble with emotions. I was only ever happy around my siblings because they needed me to be the parent but also the fun older sister. During school, I was closed off and angry all the time for seemingly no reason. To anyone who looked at me, I looked like… a monster. Like if you looked at me the wrong way I would break your arm. But the truth was… I decided when my parents began to fight more often and I had to step up as the parent figure, that I would make myself unapproachable so I would have the time to focus on my family. The only friend I had was Mark and that was only because we were childhood friends, so he knew me before I turned into the tough girl. Then my dad got transferred from Pennsylvania to Florida when I was a sophomore and I was forced to join chorus, where I met Thomas.” I chuckled weakly smiling sadly as I remembered our first couple of encounters, “And he was by far the most peppy person I had ever met, and also very,  _ very _ stubborn. So when he saw that I had no friends he practically forced me to be friends with him. I decided one friend wouldn’t distract me too much, so I eventually accepted but still kept my cold act to everyone else. When people saw me acting friendly with Thomas, a lot of them decided a weirdo like me shouldn’t be happy. So a lot of people started picking fights with me. Sometimes they just came up and shoved me calling me names until I fought back and other times they would start messing with Thomas to get me to be protective. But no matter what way they started the fight, I always fought back and I usually won, despite the multitude of bruises I would gain. Most of the time it was guys nearly twice my size so you can imagine how many times Thomas would take me to his house to patch me up. Granted I rarely got anything more than a bruise, but the one time I was out of school and a guy picked a fight with me, he pulled a knife and managed to give me some cuts. Which is where Thomas drew the line, he slowly started to pull me away from fights. If someone started messing with me, he’d politely tell them to stop and pull me away from them. If someone was trying to get me to be protective over him, he pulled his little puppy dog eyes and reassured me he was fine. Slowly but surely, I stopped fighting all together and became a pretty rounded person. I knew when to goof around and be happy but also when to be serious and be honest, most of the time bluntly so. So… Thomas basically saved me back then, he was the one to teach me what it was like to feel emotions besides anger and bitterness. I… was very lucky that he decided I was worth saving. But as you’ve witnessed, I now struggle with getting out my negative feelings, so I have rare days where I do nothing but sit in my room and think about every stupid thing I’ve done…”

I felt his hand grab mine as I was reaching for the milk. I stopped completely my heart racing at the simple touch of his warm skin.

“I’m sorry to bring all of that up… But I think I can see now why you’re able to push away negative things. You are beyond strong to deal with all of that. And…” He seemed to hesitate before sighing, “If you’d like, I can try to help with dealing with your negative emotions. I’m not very good with the whole helping with feelings thing but I know a lot about negative feelings.”

I smiled squeezing his hand making him look at me, “I’d really like that Anx.”

He nodded and we stood there for another moment or two still holding onto each other’s hand. Slowly he pulled away and we continued shopping. 

We got to checkout and of course the cashier had to be Linda, a nice but slightly too peppy girl.

She smiled when she saw, “Wow, did someone lose a bet?”

“Something like that.”

She chuckled, “Well, I personally think you look gorgeous. You should wear dresses more often, maybe not such a bright color though.”

I forced a small polite laugh, “I agree with you there.”

“Alright, your total is 47 dollars and 34 cents.” I quickly paid and we left. 

When we got in the car and were about halfway home Anxiety cleared his throat like he wanted to say something but was feeling awkward about it.

I smiled reassuringly at him, “Whatever you want to say, say it. I’m sure it isn’t that bad.” He stayed silent causing me to try and push more, “Anxiety, It can’t be-”

“You look pretty!”

We both froze slightly and it felt like the air in the car had become too thick. That was not what I was expecting to come out of his mouth and, by the deer in the headlights expression, I’m assuming he didn’t mean for it to come out either. Even though the comment was awkwardly said, it didn’t stop my heart from taking off in a race. My face heated up as the silence between us continued. I got compliments all the time, but hearing it from Anxiety was  _ very _ different. Because, he wasn’t the type to give out compliments, so I know he was genuine. 

I swallowed hard trying to push away my flustered feelings, “Um… That was not what I was expecting…” I saw Anxiety begin to panic and get irritated at himself so I reached over putting my hand over the one resting on the console between us, “But it was nice. Thank you Anx.”

As I ran my thumb over the back of his hand, he relaxed more despite the redness on his pale cheeks. For some reason, I didn’t move my hand until we were back home and had to get out of the car. Before I could leave though, he gripped my hand to stop me. I turned back to see him smiling softly which did not help my erratic pulse.

“Thanks, for not getting weirded out at my attempt at a compliment.”

I smiled slightly despite all the feelings that were screaming at how close we were, “No problem.” I then forced a teasing manner to cover up my practically melting heart, “But I will admit, you definitely need practice on compliments.”

He smirked leaning even closer to me causing my heart to skip a few beats, “Is that a challenge?”

Every logical part of me screamed to just let go of my pride and back down but the mushy, love drunk part of me kind of wanted more compliments.

I smirked back forcing myself to seem confident, “Maybe it is, emo boy.”

His face broke into a mischievous, evil smile that almost immediately told me I would regret this, “Challenge accepted princess.”

With that he got out leaving me with a mini heart attack and very flustered feelings. I took in a deep breath putting a hand over my unstable heart. 

I was going to regret this…


	7. Frustration

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harmony finally snaps after four days of flustering torture.

I was right… I completely regret this.

Every chance he got, Anxiety would compliment me and playfully flirt with me, often leaving me with a red face and a lightning fast pulse. At first it was okay because he wasn’t extremely confident in his flirting and would get embarrassed and leave when I flirted back. But then Roman decided to give him advice and help him with slowly giving me heart problems.

Oh and we also now know all of their names except for Anxiety. It was quite interesting to learn they had names and it was rather funny when I asked Anxiety what his was. He got super defensive with red cheeks and it made me giggle at how cute he was.

Which is probably another reason why he was being extra flirty today.

“Hey there beautiful.”

I immediately tensed my hand gripping my phone tightly. He was literally right next to my ear and his breath was tickling my neck making my face go red quicker than normal.

I swallowed thickly forcing a smile as I turned to him only to realize we were literally an inch apart, “H-Hey Anx.”

He sat down next to me making my guard go up. And just when I though my heart couldn’t beat any faster, he began playing with the ends of my re dyed hair. He also was extremely close which was not helping.

“I see you re did your red streaks. Might I say it looks gorgeous on you.”

I clenched my fists in my lap trying to push down the redness in my cheeks which seemed nearly impossible at this point, “T-Thanks.”

My voice was a small tone higher than normal and way more flustered than it should be.

I saw him smirk out of the corner of my eye, “Would you mind if I practiced a pick up line on you?” I forced myself to shake my head, refusing to back down despite how flustered I was getting. He leaned even closer to me so his breath tickled my ear, “I want all of you. Forever. Every day.”

I think my heart literally just stopped for a second. Anxiety has now found out about my love of the movie The Notebook. I swear when I find out who told him I was going to  **slaughter** them.

Just when I thought I was going to have a heart attack and die, Patton walked in with a smile, “Hey Harmony! Are we still going for that walk?”

I immediately knew he was trying to give me an out because we never made plans but I was grateful and I took it immediately.

“Of course Patton! Sorry Anx, I promised! See ya later!”

With that I jumped up and grabbed Patton’s arm dragging him out of the house and down the sidewalk. We only stopped when we had reached a bench that was a good ways away.

“Thank you so,  _ so _ much.”

Patton gave me a cheerful smile, “Anytime kiddo. I was sure that your heart was going to just up and give out because of how fast it was beating.”

I sighed putting a hand, which felt nice and cool against my burning face, “That’s right. You can feel positive feelings.”

He chuckled, “You’re lucky Anxiety can only feel negative ones because he would have probably given you an actual heart attack if he knew what made you easily flustered.”

I groaned burying my face in my hands, “I can’t handle much more of this! He’s going to kill me!”

I felt a hand rubbing my back in a comforting manner, “Why don’t you just give in already?”

“Because I’m a stubborn fool who has too much pride! Plus, it’s… I-It’s nice to get compliments from him, even if I know he’s only doing it to prove me wrong.”

Patton smiled at me as I lifted my head, “You really are head over heels for the boy aren’t you?”

“I still can’t believe Roman told everyone despite me going to the grocery store in that damn dress,” I grumbled slightly. I then sighed in defeat, “I am though. And I am so beyond frustrated that he’s suddenly a master at flirting! I was thinking this would be an easy thing because he would usually get embarrassed and storm out when I flirted back but then stupid Roman had to give him advice! A-And… I don’t know how much more I can take!”

“Oh yea, that’s right. You never really did the whole dating thing.”

I leaned back looking up at the slightly cloudy sky, “No, I didn’t. The only real boyfriend I have ever had was an emotionally abusive prick. God knows he never flirted with me or even gave me compliments unless it was about how obedient I was!”

Patton patted my back, “I know it must be hard for your pride but you’ve got to just give in. Both you and Anxiety are stubborn and I highly doubt Anxiety’s going to give in anytime soon.”

I sighed in defeat, “Fine, I’ll give in when we get home. Thanks for talking with me Patton.”

He smiled, “No problem kiddo.”

+_+_+_+_+

Patton and I actually did go for a small walk to talk but now we were getting home. 

Before we went in Patton gave me a reassuring smile, “He won’t think less of you.”

I nodded blowing out a nervous breath before we headed inside.

Roman spotted us immediately and smirked slightly, “Hey Harm! How’s the challenge going?”

I narrowed my eyes sharply, “You were the one who told him about The Notebook, weren’t you?” He simply smiled making me growl, “I dislike you very strongly.”

Then I felt someone behind me.

“Hey gorgeous.”

And that was it. Finally after four days of this torture, all those flustered feelings and the frustration snapped.

I whipped around giving a humorless laugh as I raised my hands in defeat, “I’m done! You win! I lose! I concede! I give up! I cannot handle anymore of this!” He seemed shocked and I felt like I couldn’t stop the words from falling out of my mouth, “I swear to all that is holy, you are going to give me a fucking heart attack at this point! My face can’t get any redder without bursting into flames! I could handle it when I was able to flirt back and get you to storm off but not anymore! I can’t even think when you are so close to me, let alone try and think of a comeback to your flirting! And while it was wonderful to get compliments from you, I know that they were all for a stupid game! A bet that I shouldn’t have even made! That I  **wouldn’t** have made if I wasn’t a lovestruck idiot!”

I finally took a breath leaving the room deathly still. My eyes then widened when I realized what I had just said.

I opened my mouth to try and save myself but nothing came out but a small strangled noise of pure embarrassment. Anxiety was staring at me with his jaw dropped. I could feel Patton’s worried eyes and Roman’s guilty gaze on my back. I didn’t know what to do. I slowly felt myself become more and more nervous and jittery. Finally my brain screamed to run away. So I grabbed my bag and rushed past Anxiety and out of the house. 

I walked briskly down the sidewalk trying to think of something other than the words repeating in my head over and over. I had just basically shouted that I had feelings for him. Oh god, I… I’ve just ruined everything. He  **knows** that I like him. Maybe he won’t piece it together? No, he wasn’t stupid. What was I going to do? I can’t face him after that outburst.

I didn’t know where I was walking but somehow I ended up outside a bar. The logical part of my brain tried to reason that it wasn’t bad enough to turn to alcohol but my tattered emotions easily overruled them and I walked into the bar.

I sat down on a stool looking around at the room full of drunk college kids, bikers, desperate girls, and guys having a fun time with their friends.

“What can I get you?” The bartender asked with a kind smile.

I made a split decision, “Do you have any Everclear?”

He smirked slightly, “A pretty girl like you wants somethin’ that strong?”

I smirked back raising my arms in a shrug, “I’ve had a pretty bad week and I kinda just want to get drunk off my ass.”

He chuckled, “Blunt, I like it. How about a small bet?” I quirked an eyebrow in challenge. “If you can take five shots of Everclear in a row and not puke or pansy out, the rest of your drinks are on me.”

This was  **not** a good idea. The entire rational side of me screamed not to do it. My mind drifted to Anxiety’s shocked face before I said screw it.

“Deal.”

He smiled amusedly before quickly pouring me five shots and laying them out. I then finally noticed that a decent amount of the bar had heard what we bet and was now watching in anticipation. That for some reason just fueled this wild urge to have fun and forget everything.

I smirked, “Want to count down for me sweetheart?”

The bartender laughed, “3, 2, 1, go!”

I quickly downed the first shot, easily moving through the next two, by the fourth shot my stomach was turning but I forced myself to finish the last two and slam down the shot glass before holding my arms out with a smirk.

The bartender looked shell shocked and the rest of the bar cheered for me. I smiled widely already feeling the alcohol work in my system to slow down my brain and make me feel less stressed and more excited.

I chuckled, “Looks like you’re paying for my drinks honey.”

He chuckled finally coming out of his shock, “I have never had a guy win that bet, let alone a dainty thing like yourself.”

I gave a daring smirk leaning on the bar, “I’m tougher than I look.”

“That you are. Alright, what’s your next poison?”

I chuckled, “I think I’ll have something less intense. How about a strawberry daiquiri?”

He smiled, “Sounds good to me.”

Soon I was taking drink after drink that was bought for me until my memory became hazy.

**Anxiety’s POV**

I was pacing back and forth nervously.

“She’s fine Anxiety. She just needs some time to cool off.”

“I can’t believe I let you talk me into flirting with her like that!” I snapped at Roman but it was more aimed at myself, “I should never have pushed her like that!”

Logan sighed from his spot on the couch, “You know she didn’t mind the flirting right? She just isn’t used to feeling flustered.” I gave him a challenging look. “The only reason she made the bet in the first place was because she wanted more compliments from you. You aren’t very forthcoming with them to anybody. When you complimented her in the car, it made her happy and she naturally wanted more.”

I groaned falling back onto the couch with my face buried in my hands, “How did I not see that she  **liked** me!?”

Patton laughed, “Well she did do an awful lot to hide it from you. I mean she even wore her old prom dress to the grocery store just so Roman wouldn’t tell you.”

I paused sitting up and giving Roman a confused look, “Wait, that’s what you found out?”

He nodded, “I caught her reading a shipping fanfic about the two of you and got her to admit that she had a crush on you. She practically begged me not to tell you.”

Just then the front door opened and Thomas walked in supporting a very drunk Harmony. He looked pissed.

Harmony laughed breaking the tense silence, “T-Thomas, they bought me so many dr-inks! And I won a bet! I’m so happy!” 

Thomas took in a deep breath giving all of us a glare, “I’m going to go put her into bed. Then we are going to have a serious talk.”

We just nodded silently. He lead her up the stairs and it was silent.

“We are in so much trouble,” Patton whispered.

After what seemed like forever Thomas walked back down looking a little calmer but still angry.

He took in deep breath, “Which one of you would like to explain why I get a call from a bar saying that my friend, who  **never** turns to drinking, is drunk and needs someone to take her home?”

We all stayed silent for a moment before Roman decided to bite the bullet, “Harmony made a bet with Anxiety that he couldn’t give compliments well and… I may have talked Anxiety into flirting with her which in turn caused her to get very flustered and frustrated. She went for a walk with Patton and when they returned, she kind of snapped. She ranted about how she couldn’t handle his flirting anymore and basically shouted that she had feelings for Anxiety. Then she stormed out and we assumed she was just going for a walk to cool off. We had  **no** idea she was out drinking.”

Thomas took in another deep breath taking time to process what he had said, “I… am going to explain something at the risk of Harmony getting seriously mad at me. So listen closely.” We all nodded. “Harmony has never had a crush before. Yes, she dated Taylor but she never had a crush on him. They went on dates and he eventually asked her out. No crushes, no flirting, no drama. Taylor was abusive, mostly emotionally… And ever since she got out of that relationship, she has never considered dating again. I don’t know how or when but somehow she developed a crush on you, Anxiety. The reason she made the bet with you, as she admitted to me herself, was because she liked having you compliment her. She only continued the bet because she liked flirting with you without having to admit her feelings. I stopped paying attention to it after that but evidently Roman convinced you to flirt back. Which is something Harmony has never experienced. I can understand why she got frustrated and snapped.” He then took a calming breath, “I don’t care if you guys start dating, I don’t care that she likes you and you like her, but I will  **not** tolerate you hurting her. If I  **ever** get a call that Harmony is drunk because of you again, I will hurt you severely.”

We all slowly processed what he said before something sent alarm bells off in my head.

“Wait… You said mostly emotionally…” I trailed off not sure if I wanted to confirm my thoughts.

Thomas gave a sad smile, “He wanted to keep her submissive to him. What better way than to make her scared of being hurt?”

I was suddenly aware of things I hadn’t noticed before. When Harmony would flinch when we were shouting at one another over something, when she would wince back if someone raised their hand in a certain way… and when she had the panic attack after him smiling at her, she wasn’t afraid of his emotional abuse… she was scared of his physical abuse…

“I’m going to my room,” I excused myself and jogged upstairs. 

I was about to open the door to my room when I heard something. It was a quiet sniffle… coming from Harmony’s room. I debated with myself before my own care for her won. I opened the door frowning at the sight of her crying on her bed. I hesitated before I walked in closing the door behind me.

Her head snapped up at the sound of the door clicking. I was expecting her to yell or to be angry but instead she just laughed brokenly with a wobbly smile.

“I really screwed up didn’t I? I mean, I shouldn’t be surprised! I always screw things up! I am the failure after all.”

“Stop it.”

She paused at the serious tone of my voice, “W-What?”

“You are  **not** a failure. I don’t care what your parents think, I don’t care what Taylor thought, I don’t care what  **anyone** thinks! You work twice as hard as everyone else. You work two jobs so Thomas can pay a little less of the rent, you pour your heart and soul into your videos no matter what content they may be, you would give up anything to make the people you care about happy, and…” I chuckled softly, “And somehow, in all of that, you manage to make me feel like a better person.”

She seemed to hesitate before she scooted over in the bed. I slowly walked over and sat down against the headboard. It was silent as she thought of what to say.

Finally she took in a breath and gave me a weak smile, “I’m sorry… for snapping at you, for continuing that stupid bet in the first place, for… for falling for you.” She looked away trying to hide the tears building back up in her eyes, “I-I know you would never think of me like that. I just-”

“How do you know?”

She snapped her head to look at her many emotions crossing her gaze. Hope, wariness, care, then finally settling on guarded.

She swallowed thickly before speaking quietly, “B-Because you’re… you’re so…”

I raised an eyebrow, “I’m what?” She stayed silent struggling to form a coherent sentence, considering she’s still drunk and probably feeling a lot of emotions. “I’ll tell you what I am Harmony. I am moody, I am constantly bringing everyone down, I’m pessimistic, and I…” I pushed back my nerves forcing myself to look into her enchanting grey eyes, “And I fell for you from the beginning.”

I saw hope flash across her eyes before she was hesitant again, “W-What do you…”

“When we met, my only goal was to see you lose your cool and not be so damn happy. And then, when I had a panic attack the first night in my room… you helped me, even though I had only ever been rude to you. It made me wonder if you were always like that. Then I got to know you more. While you were happy, you also hid a lot of your depression from others to lessen their worry. While you were constantly helpful to everyone, you rarely helped yourself. While you were brave to the world, you were scared of being hurt. And… And I began to fall for you. I fell for your stubbornness, I fell for your playful attitude, I fell for a girl who probably deserves a happy guy. One that can support you and constantly make you feel loved because that’s what you deserve to feel. And part of me knows I should let you find a guy like that, who’s happy and fun but… I’m also horribly selfish. And I want you all to myself.”

Harmony took in a deep breath before giving an airy chuckle, “Please tell me this isn’t some drunk dream because life would seriously be cruel to make me dream this.”

I smiled reaching out to grab her hand and hold it tightly, “If this is a dream, I don’t want to wake up.”

She giggled making my smile widen as she squeezed my hand, “I would love to kiss you right now but I am still drunk and I want to kiss you when I can experience everything without the haze.”

I chuckled before laying down and gently pulling her down with me. I wrapped my arm around her waist pulling her back against my chest and burying my face into the back of her shoulder. 

I could tell she smiled as she relaxed into me, “Didn’t picture you as the cuddling type.”

“Tell anyone and I will tickle you to death.”

She chuckled, “Just don’t tell anyone that I cried.”

We both chuckled before we both relaxed. She drifted off before me, with the help of the alcohol in her system. I closed my eyes breathing in her scent before allowing myself to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just thought I'd point out that while Thomas likes to keep his vids and posts PG-13, I'm probably going to curse a lot in this story (which you've probably noticed) and there will be some spicier scenes, nothing too explicit. I'd say PG-13 to PG-15. Anyway, thanks for bothering to read!


	8. Angsty emo romance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hangover and aftermath.

I woke up with a pounding headache. I groaned gripping my head tightly. I took notice that Anxiety wasn’t in bed with me.

Was it seriously a dream?

Then my door opened revealing Anxiety with a glass of water and painkillers.

I smiled taking them from him, “Thanks.”

He nodded sitting down on my bed and laying back against my pillows. I quickly took the painkillers and downed half the water. I put the glass on my night table before silence took over the room. I fidgeted my fingers nervously wanting to ask but not wanting to look crazy.

“Last night wasn’t a dream, by the way.”

I froze staring at a calm Anxiety with wide eyes, “U-Uh…”

He smirked, “You mentioned you thought it might be a dream last night.”

“Oh…”

We again fell into a silence which was slightly awkward. I steeled myself before taking in a deep breath.

“Do… Do you really feel that way about me?” My voice was soft as if speaking too loud would break the fragile air.

Unlike last night, when he was nervous and slightly shy, he didn’t hesitate in sitting up and scooting closer to me. I held my breath as his hand came up to caress my cheek. Just like every time before, my heart took off soaring at the warm touch of his skin. His eyes locked onto mine with so much passion and determination that I couldn’t look away. I felt nearly frozen under his gaze, all the feelings running through my veins making it impossible for me to move.

“I know I don’t deserve someone as amazing as you… I know I should let you find a guy who knows what he’s doing and can treat you like you deserve but… I’m too selfish. I don’t care that you could easily find someone 10 times better than me. As long as I have the chance to be with you and try to treat you like you deserve then I’m taking it… even if you find you want better in the end.”

I finally moved my hand to lay on top of his giving him an embarrassed smile, “I don’t know where you got these ideas, that I’m amazing and that you’re not good enough… because I am going to be so bad at this. I have only ever been with an abusive guy. So honestly, if I got a guy who was super sweet and tried to give me the moon, I wouldn’t take it. I…” I hesitated my eyes shifting away out of habit, “I truly don’t think I deserve someone like you. Who’s sweet when he wants to be, and always willing to stay with me despite me shutting him out, and who even though he can’t stand having to comfort others will hold me while I cry over something as stupid as my mom telling me not to come to a mother’s day get together.” I swallowed hard forcing my eyes to go back to his, “I am so terrified that I’m going to mess this up. That you’re going to find that I’m too difficult to be with and go looking for a simpler girl with less issues. And yes, I probably should have just kept my mouth shut and let you find someone better than me but…” I shook my head with a small, airy laugh, “I’m just as selfish. I… I want you to be mine and no one else’s. I cannot stand the idea of another girl getting to hug you, and cuddle with you, and… and kiss you. I just want you…” I trailed off now noticing during my rant he had moved a lot closer.

His lips were barely an inch away, our noses were touching lightly as our breaths mixed together. I could feel nervousness flare in the back of my mind but for some reason when his mocha eyes glanced down to my lips and then back to my eyes for permission, I found myself telling it to just shut up. I didn’t hesitate any longer in pressing my lips to his. We moved in perfect sync as his hands went to my waist trying to pull me closer. My hands gripped into his hair pushing him even closer. There were so many emotions running through my veins, in the kiss, in the air. I could feel every small breath he made, the touch of his lips was driving me wild with excitement, his hair was a lot softer than I expected it to be. There were way too many fast paced thoughts to make a coherent one.

He slowed our kiss down and gently pulled away. I opened my eyes to look into his which were gleaming with happiness. A shy smile crossed my face as he looked back at me like I was the best thing he had ever experienced.

“Will you be mine? Even if I’m an angsty, emo teen most of the time.”

My smile grew as I leaned back in for another kiss.

“I’m already yours, stupid.”

With that our lips connected once more in a slower and sweeter kiss. This was truly a perfect moment…

Until the door banged open making us jump apart. We looked over to see the others standing there. Roman had a smirk, Patton was giggling and giving goofy smiles, Logan looked unimpressed by the whole thing, and Thomas was smiling happily.

I cleared my throat awkwardly, “H-Hi?”

Patton giddily clapped his hands, “So you’re together now!?”

I blushed, “U-Uh… I…”

“Want some proof?”

I snapped my head give Anxiety a shocked look but he simply smirked leaning over and kissing me again. As much as I tried to force myself to pull away, I melted into the kiss putting my hands on either side of his face. He pulled back with a satisfied smirk which cause me to blush even more.

Patton squealed happily, “Yay!”

Roman chuckled, “We might have to set some ground rules… but I am happy for you two.”

Logan groaned, “Can we be done with all the feelings stuff now? I was over it from the beginning.”

Thomas chuckled giving me a proud smile, “If you’re happy then I’m happy.”

I giggled giving them all a smile, “Thanks guys.”

“Seriously though, the walls are thin.”

“Thomas!” I gave him a mortified look as my cheeks heated up once again.

The others were holding back laughter…

“Invest in ear plugs.”

And they broke. They all began laughing at my expense. I shoved a smirking Anxiety onto the floor and got up. I quickly got clothes and stormed past them to the bathroom.

“Awe, come on Harmony! No need to be embarrassed!” Thomas shouted in a teasing tone, probably paying me back for how much I teased him about all his relationships.

“No more talking about my sex life!” With that I slammed and locked the bathroom door. I then leaned against it to catch my breath and calm my rapid pulse.

But despite the teasing from the others, I smiled, happy to have gotten my angsty emo boy.


	9. The ship has sailed.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Logan is acting strangely.

“Logan?”

He looked… not like himself. He seemed flustered and his hair was messy like he had been running his fingers through it repeatedly. 

He gave a forced smile, “Could I get your help on something?”

I raised an eyebrow but nodded turning to look at Anxiety who was scrolling through Tumblr on my bed, “I’ll be back in a minute.”

He gave a small nod. I followed Logan to his room, which was right next to mine. He sat down in his desk chair and ran his hand through his hair, confirming my little theory.

I sat down on his bed with my legs crossed, “What’s up?”

He took in a deep breath, “I have a major problem.” I nodded for him to continue. “Lately I had been… feeling odd things that I didn’t quite understand. We all know I’m not one for emotions. So I thought I might be sick, so I did research and… I don’t like the answers I found and want a second opinion.”

“Okay… Can I ask why you came to me with this?”

He sighed, “Thomas said you had a lot of trouble with understanding emotions in high school so I thought you’d be able to explain it a lot easier than Roman would.”

“Fair enough. What seems to be the issue?”

“Every time I am around a certain person, my stomach feels all… jittery. I looked it up and the term they used was ‘butterflies’. Anyway, along with these butterflies, my heart speeds up and if they smile at me, my face gets all warm. They make me happy which didn’t used to occur but now it does all the time. And I can’t figure out what’s wrong with me! I do not like the answers I am getting online, so I was hoping you would give me a better answer.” He scrunched his nose a little with a hopeful smile.

I gave him an apologetic smile, “Logan… I am sorry to say, but it seems you have a crush.”

He groaned coming over to flop face down on the bed next to me, “How do I make it stop?!”

I gave his back a pat, “It’s not easy.”

He sighed sitting up, “Well… What do I do? I see this person all the time, so avoiding them is impossible. Is there a way to get rid of these feelings?”

“I’ll try to explain this how I would have understood it back in the day. A crush is one of the best and worst things you will ever experience.”

He gave me a dull look, “That contradicts.”

I smiled at him giving a nod, “Yea, everything you feel that is caused by this crush, will contradict any logical thinking.” I chuckled turning to face him, “When you have a crush on someone, suddenly you can’t stop thinking about them. It could be any time, anywhere. You could see something that interests them and suddenly you’re thinking about what they would do if you got them it as a gift. Also the reason your face is hot, is blushing.”

“Yes, I know. Blood rushes to your face causing it to heat up and appear red.”

I nodded, “And no matter how much you try to hide this or force it down, it is always noticeable.”

He sighed, “Is there truly no way to get rid of a crush?”

I shrugged, “I’ve only had one before. And, believe me, I tried everything I could think of to get rid of it, and now here I am dating said crush.”

He blushed slightly, “S-Should I even act upon these feelings? What if he doesn’t have a crush on me?”

“Oh yea, that’s the struggle right there. I don’t know who your crush is so I don’t exactly know how to gauge their reaction but I can tell you my personal experience.” He nodded for me to continue. “Well, Anxiety obviously isn’t open to anyone, so trying to figure out if he had feelings for me was nearly impossible. There were small things that hinted at it, like when I was having my depressed day and he came up to stay with me, or when I was babysitting my nieces and younger siblings and he stayed to help, or even when he blurted out that I look pretty in the car the day I wore that awful dress. But other than that, it’s a guessing game.”

“W-Would it help to know who this person is?”

I shrugged, “It wouldn’t hurt. And I won’t tell anyone either.”

He sighed in reluctance, “I-It’s Patton.”

I blinked for a moment, “Uh… Wow, that was not what I was expecting but uh… I can see why?”

He chuckled, “Yes, I suppose he is quite endearing even though he can be an idiot at times.”

I sighed smiling at him, “Well, Patton should be easy to read… but then again he’s like always happy so there is no way to tell if he’s happier around you or not.”

Logan frowned, “Could you… talk to him? See if he has any feelings for me and then tell me.”

“Or I could lock you two in a closet together.”

“Please, no.”

I chuckled, “I guess I could try. Just don’t get your hopes up because I am not a match maker.”

I stood up and walked across the hall to Patton’s room and knocked.

“Come in!”

I walked in smiling at the sight of Patton laying upside down on his bed, “Hey Pat!”

“Hey Harm! What’s up?”

“Not you apparently,” I joked earning a chuckle from the bubbly male. I sat down his bed as he turned to sit properly, “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure kiddo!”

“What do you think of Logan?” I asked studying his reaction closely.

His face brightened a bit, “He’s cool. He’s super smart and he even puts up with my dad jokes, even though he despises them with a passion!”

I smiled slightly, “So if he had a crush on you?”

“I would be over the moon.”

“I suggest you and him talk. Also don’t tell him I told you.”

With that I left the giddy boy and went back to my room. I flopped on my stomach next to Anxiety grabbing my phone and checking my messages.

“So what did Logan need?”

I listened closely hearing muffled talking coming from the room next to us, “Just wait one second.”

Not even a minute later, we heard excited squealing and thudding as someone bounced on the floor. Few more seconds later, my bedroom door was slammed open and Patton was hugging me tightly.

“Thank you so much Harmony!”

I smiled, “No prob bob.”

He left to where Logan was waiting and staring at him with a small smile. Anxiety raised an eyebrow at me.

I smirked, “Just call me cupid.”

“Wait, huh? Logan and…” I nodded with an amused smile. Anxiety grinned, “Oh, I am so teasing them about this when I get the chance.”

I laughed lightly resting my chin on his shoulder, “It was a little weird that Logan came to me though.”

“Why did he come to you?”

I chuckled looking back to my phone, “Apparently Thomas told him how I struggled with emotions in my teen years and he thought I could explain it better than Roman.”

“Hm, I guess that makes sense. Wait, didn’t you say before that you shipped them?”

I smirked at him, “Why do you think I just flat out told Patton that Logan liked him? I’m way too impatient for Logan to build up the courage to ask him out.”

“It’s still weird that you ship people. I wouldn’t see you as that type.”

My smirk widened as I casually looked back at my phone, “Prinxiety is also a nice one to read.”

It was dead silent for a few moments.

“You do not…”

“‘Oh, Princey. Please, faster, Anxiety begged’.”

Anxiety choked on salivia, “You’re reading smut about your boyfriend and your roommate!?”

I gave a devilish grin as I continued to read, “‘Princey finally obeyed his lover’s request and sped up his pace causing the dark boy beneath him to shudder and moan even louder’.” 

I took one glance at Anxiety, who, though thoroughly embarrassed, was giving me the scariest, most murderous glare I had ever seen, and decided it’d be best to run. I quickly got up and ran out of the room with him hot on my heels. I squealed when I felt his hand graze the back of my shirt when I got to the stairs.

I ran downstairs where Thomas and Princey were on the couch, “Thomas! Save me!”

I jumped behind the couch where Thomas was sitting giving me a confused look as Anxiety came down still glaring at me murderously.

Roman snickered, “Lover’s spat?”

I bit my lip trying to hide my growing smile at what I was about to do, “Come on, Anx. You know you want me to read more to you.”

Anxiety blushed deeply, “Don’t you-”

“‘Anxiety scratched his nails down Roman’s back, moaning out his name in between pants. Roman kissed down the pale skin of Anxiety’s neck, loving each sound his dark prince made’.”

Roman choked on his water which he had just taken a sip of, “What the hell are you reading!?”

Thomas began to laugh uncontrollably which I quickly joined in. Anxiety was so red and it definitely stood out on his pale skin. Roman was giving me a bewildered look, also slightly red. Anxiety face turned scarily calm as he pulled out his phone and began typing. 

I smirked, “Awe, you gonna call someone to save you from your embarrassment?”

He gave an evil grin as he began reading whatever was on his phone, “‘Harmony was embarrassed at what she had just asked but she was so horny and she needed Thomas. Thomas gave a sultry grin as he began to kiss her neck’.”

My face immediately burst into heat as did Thomas’. I gave Anxiety an embarrassed look to which he smiled innocently.

“You don’t want to hear more about you and Thomas?”

I groaned burying my face into the couch, “Please stop.”

“Hm, I don’t remember you stopping when I asked.”

“Anxiety!”

“‘Harmony began to moan as Thomas abused her sensitive neck, leaving small marks in his wake. He finally began moving his hand up her shirt to her-’”

I threw a pillow at him, “You are such a jerk!” I then turned and tossed the next pillow at a laughing Roman, “And you’re an idiot!”

With that I stormed back upstairs and into my room. I tried to slam the door shut but Anxiety’s foot stopped it. Despite that I kept pushing, hoping to hurt him, just slightly.

“You aren’t going to keep me out.”

I growled and left the door in favor of burying my face into one of my pillows. I could hear Anxiety struggling not to laugh as he laid down next to me.

“So you ever going to read smut about me and Roman again?”

“Not out loud at least.”

“Why do you read that? Smut especially!”

I finally moved my head to give him a dull look, “I read the cute ones because they’re cute and I can’t help but adore how people portray you in them.” He gave me a scowl and I smirked, “And as for the smut… You’re hot, Roman’s hot, two hot dudes bangin’ is pretty sexy.”

He simply stared at me like I just admitted to having a foot fetish.

“Also,  **never** read smut about me and Thomas again. It is beyond creepy. Especially one where we were doing BDSM type shit.”

“Wait…” 

I paled drastically realizing my mistake, “No! No, no! It is  **not** like that!”

He began to laugh, “Oh my god! You’ve read it before!”

“N-No! I-I just assumed!” He then gave a wicked grin and I knew what he was about to do, “Anxiety, I will castrate you!”

He ignored me jumping up and running out of the room. I quickly followed hoping to catch him but Anxiety is a surprisingly fast runner. He got downstairs before I was even 2 thirds down the hall.

“Oh Thomas! I have amazing news to share with you about your best friend and roommate!”

“Anxiety, don’t!”

“She-” I tackled him and put a hand over his mouth muffling his laughter.

I glared at him dangerously, “You say one word and I  **will slaughter you** .”

Roman smirked, “This wouldn’t be about the one time she read Thomany smut would it?”

I gave him a wide eyed look, “You traitor! I told you that in secret you princely bitch!”

He smiled at me sweetly, “Next time, don’t read smut about me and Anxiety.”

Thomas began to laugh while I groaned getting off Anxiety and falling onto the couch, opposite end of where Thomas was sitting, “I hate all of you.”

Anxiety laughed, “You know I feel like I should be slightly jealous. You read smut about Thomas but not me?”

“Oh no, she’s read about that too.”

I quickly punched Roman hard in the arm, “Remind me to never share secrets with you again.”

“Wait, was this before or after we started dating?”

“Both,” I mumbled out embarrassedly. I glared at him as he began to laugh again. I then smirked standing up and walking over so I was looking down at him. He stopped laughing to give me a wary look. I smiled as sweet as I possibly could, “Too bad you can only be that good in fanfiction.” My smiled turned playful when I noticed the challenging look that took over the immediate offense.

I turned and ran up the stairs laughing the whole way. I just managed to get into my room but before I could close the door, strong arms wrapped around my waist and I was lifted up. I laughed and squealed trying to squirm out. I was easily tossed onto the bed and pinned down by a smirking Anxiety.

“Now, what was that? Something about me only being good in fanfiction?” 

I bit my lip smiling playfully, “Yea, I mean you are seriously so much hotter in the fanfics.”

He leaned down so his lips were brushing against mine, “That sounds like a challenge Harmony.”

I suppressed the excited giggle that wanted to escape showing a smirk instead, “Maybe it is, oh master of darkness.”

He hummed before finally kissed me. I kissed back immediately unable to even try to resist the temptation. He bit at my lower lip gently, trying to gain access to my mouth. Normally I would deny him for a bit, but I was enjoying this kiss too much. I allowed him in giving a small noise from the back of my throat at his familiar taste. I wanted to run my fingers through his hair but he still had my wrists pinned next to my head and even with me trying to get him to let go, he didn’t want to release them for whatever reason. We were completely lost in our own little world while we kissed.

Which is why we didn’t see Roman until he cleared his throat. Anxiety jumped off and away from me while I straightened my shirt. Both me and Anxiety were slightly red, whether that was from lack of oxygen or embarrassment I could not tell.

Roman smirked slightly, “You know, normally when you get a room, you shut the door.”

I gave him a small glare, slightly unhappy that he had interrupted us, “I’ll keep that in mind next time, gossip girl.”

“Oh, get over it. You shouldn’t have been reading about me and Anxiety having sex, that is just all kinds of weird.”

I smirked, “As I explained to Anxiety, two hot guys banging is pretty sexy.”

Roman raised his eyebrows at me, “You think I’m hot?”

I rolled my eyes, “You all have the same face, dumbass.”

“Fair point but still, it is nice to hear a compliment from such a beautiful lady.”

I heard Anxiety growl before I was on his lap with my back pressed against his chest and his head on top of mine as he held my waist possessively. A small part of me flashed back to Taylor but I pushed it away for the bigger part of me that was amused and excited. Since Anxiety couldn’t see my face I mouthed ‘Keep going’ to Roman who immediately knew what I was doing and smirked.

“Honestly Anxiety, I was just giving her a compliment. I mean look at her, she truly is the fairest of them all.”

Anxiety growled animalistically at Roman, “Back off, pretty boy.”

I bit my lip to suppress my giggles which only seemed to encourage Roman, “You’re being stingy. You can’t keep Harmony all to yourself. She is too wonderful to locked away.”

I could feel Anxiety’s jaw move as he bared his teeth at Roman and hissed. I finally let out my giggles as Roman chuckled amusedly.

“I’ll leave you two lovebirds be.” With that he left, shutting the door behind him.

I struggled for a moment but managed to turn around in Anxiety’s tight grip so I could smile at him, “Would you calm down? You know you’re the only one for me.”

He was still frowning angrily, “I can’t believe he had the nerve to call you the fairest of them all.”

I moved on my knees so I was tall enough to plant a chaste kiss on his lips, “I’m dating you, not Roman. I honestly don’t think I could stand Roman in a relationship, he’s far too lovey and grand with romantic gestures.”

Anxiety’s frowned turned into one of confusion and worry, “Do… Do you ever wish for someone more romantic?” I tilted my head slightly at the odd tone in his voice but shook my head in answer. His frown deepened, “Why? I thought most people enjoy when their lover does sweet things for them…”

I bit my lip in hesitation before reluctantly speaking, “Because I’ve never seen that type of relationship, I guess… Think about it, My mom and dad are always fighting and the only romantic thing they do is go on dates when their fight gets too intense and hurtful. A-And…” I hesitated again before sighing softly, “And the only real relationship I had was most definitely not romantic. It was my every move being controlled by someone else, all for the sake of them not leaving.”

“Could I… Can I ask you something?” I nodded and he hesitated, “Promise you won’t get mad at me?” 

“I promise.”

“D-Did… Did Taylor hit you?” I froze slightly, my eyes widening to a deer in the headlights look. Anxiety growled at himself, “Sorry, that was insensitive and stupid. You don’t-”

“He did…”

Anxiety stopped at the quiet tone of my voice, “...I was hoping you’d say no.”

I gave a half smile before cuddling into his chest. Part of me was screaming bloody murder at what I was thinking about doing and the other part was quietly saying he wouldn’t care.

“You okay? You’re putting off a lot of bad feelings right now.”

I took in a deep breath shutting my head up and speaking quietly, “He only did it a few times… T-The first time definitely hit me the hardest though… He had seen me hanging out with Thomas and was demanding me to tell him where he lived. I knew he was going to try and threaten him so I kept refusing. He t-tried to be all sweet and kind to manipulate me. He kept saying that he was trying to protect me, that Thomas would just hurt me. And for a moment I almost believed him because of how bad I had fallen for his game. When I still said no, h-he got so angry. I-I was just expecting him to start tearing my confidence down again but i-instead…” Tears blurred my vision but I pushed them away, clutching tightly onto Anxiety’s hoodie. I took in a shaking breath forcing myself to continue, “At first he just shoved me into the wall and knocked my shoulder a bit b-but… he just kept going. He kept shoving me as he yelled about how stupid and worthless I was.” I shrugged my shoulders up a bit, a small, broken smile tugging at my lips, “And suddenly I was on the ground and my cheek was throbbing. I didn’t even process what had happened until a few minutes later. He… He left and when he came back the next morning, he… told me how sorry he was. He started saying how much he loved me and how he would never do it again.” I scoffed slightly as tears finally began falling, “And no matter how many times he broke that promise, I still believed him every time he said it would never happen again because I was so… stupid!” I burst out unintentionally a feeling of bitterness settling in my chest, “I fell for a mad man and didn’t bother to pull myself out of it! I fell in love with a controlling bastard who never let me leave the house in normal clothes! I-I…”

I felt Anxiety’s hand rub up and down my back, which comforted me easily. For some reason, despite just reliving a time where I was nowhere near safe, I felt completely sheltered in his arms. Like nothing could hurt me and… I knew it was true. Anxiety would probably burn his hoodie before he let someone hurt me, and trust me he loves that thing. 

I took slow breaths to help calm myself down, which worked surprisingly well. Soon my tears had stopped leaving red eyes and blotchy skin. I slowly pulled back to where I was just sitting on my knees in front of him.

“I-I’m sorry.”

I could feel Anxiety’s confusion, “About what?”

I swallowed hard steeling myself for whatever he may say, “That I’m so weak… that I-I can’t get over something that happened two years ago… that I don’t know the first thing about being in a loving relationship. Just… everything…”

I was firmly looking down at my lap even though I could feel his gaze on me. But, unfortunately, Anxiety was just as stubborn as I was, if not more. So he gently grabbed my chin and firmly lifted my head to look him in the eyes. I probably looked like a mess after my crying session, which made me want to look away, but the soft look in Anxiety’s eyes made me stay where I was.

He leaned his forehead against mine, “First of all, you are anything but weak. You are quite possibly the strongest person I have ever met. So I don’t want to hear anything about you being weak. Second, you were in an abusive relationship and controlled to the point where you felt like you couldn’t leave. Anyone would be traumatised by that, and I can tell you’ve probably come far from where you were after first leaving. Lastly, Do you honestly think I have the first clue as to what I’m doing? I never existed before 6 months ago, let alone dated. So we can both figure out what we’re comfortable with and how we want our relationship to be.”

“B-But most people-”

“I don’t care about most people,” He cut me off softly still looking into my eyes tenderly, “This is  **our** relationship. We can make it however we want and personally, I like the way things are going so far. The playful teasing and challenges, just hanging out doing our own things in the same room, and most importantly I love that you are so comfortable around me. I want our relationship to be just that,  **ours** .”

A wide smile broke out on my face as I looked at him, “You sure you’ve never dated before because that was awfully sweet and poetic.”

He chuckled, “I guess Roman rubbed off on me with his romantic gestures.”

I smiled leaning up kiss him quickly, “Thank you. I really do appreciate you being patient with me.”

He smiled hugging me to him before laying us both down, “Now I’m taking a nap and you are going to snuggle with me.

I raised an eyebrow with a playful smile, “Excuse me sir, but I have a video to edit.”

He smiled and closed his eyes simply holding me tighter, “It can wait.”

I groaned but didn’t protest as I snuggled into his chest more, “You really are a piece of work.”

He simply gave me a quick kiss on the forehead before relaxing. I relaxed as well letting my eyes close. A little nap wouldn’t hurt.


	10. The walls are thin.

I was pale as a sheet and sitting disturbingly still as I sat on the couch hugging one the pillows.

Thomas walked down the stairs whistling before stopping short at the sight of me, “Harm? Are you okay?”

Anxiety came from the kitchen eating a piece of toast, “Don’t bother. She hasn’t said a word all morning.”

Thomas frowned at him, “Shouldn’t you be concerned with this?”

He shrugged, “I would be if she was feeling something negative but I can’t sense anything.”

Roman came down followed by a very cheerful Morality and a smiling Logic.

Patton giggled, “Me and Logan are going out for breakfast. See you when we get back!”

I waited until I heard the door close before I spoke shakily, “Anxiety, I am sleeping in your room from now on.”

I saw him raise an eyebrow at me, “Why?”

Roman frowned coming to sit next to me and put a hand on my back in comfort, “Harmony? What on earth is going on with you?”

“Logan’s room is next to mine.”

Roman raised an eyebrow, “Uh, yes. I know this. Why is that-”

“The walls are thin.”

Roman furrowed his brows, “What are you-” He cut himself off as realization dawned on him, “Oh!” 

Apparently it also dawned on Anxiety because he began laughing at my expense, hell even Thomas let out a couple snickers. Roman smiled but thankfully didn’t laugh.

“I will forever be traumatized! I’m never gonna sleep again!” 

“It couldn’t be that bad, right? I mean, surely you’ve heard worse things.”

I turned to him with a wide eyed look and a smile that screamed ‘end my suffering’, “Morality has a daddy kink.”

Anxiety took off on another round of laughter actually clutching his stomach. Thomas was even letting out chuckles but trying to hide them to be nice. Roman let out a couple snickers but tried not to burst out laughing.

“O-Oh, you poor dear,” Roman managed to get out with minimal laughter as he patted my shoulder, “It seems it is that bad. I-I am so sorry.”

I groaned burying my face into the pillow I was hugging, “Kill me.”

Roman rubbed my back, which probably would be more comforting if he wasn’t letting out small chuckles, “I’m afraid we can’t do that. But I’m sure Anxiety wouldn’t mind you moving into his room, at least for a while.”

Anxiety finally stopped laughing to catch his breath, “Oh my god! They’ve only been together like a week!”

I let out dry sobs into the pillow, “Why me? I got them together! I may have shipped them but I did  **not** need to hear Logan screaming ‘fuck me faster daddy’!”

Thomas finally lost it falling to the floor and clutching his stomach. Roman also finally began laughing but it was more controlled.

Anxiety came over to hug his arms around my neck from behind the couch, “You poor, poor thing. I am so sorry that you experienced that. I’m not sorry for laughing though, because the way you phrased everything was freaking hilarious.”

I let out more dry sobbing noises in response as I leaned my head back, “On top of all that, I couldn’t even sleep because they didn’t fucking stop!”

Anxiety gave me an amused but still caring smile, “How about I let you borrow my noise canceling headphones and you can take a nap in my room? Also, I don’t mind if you stay with me for a while, or at least till you get over your trauma.”

I sighed but nodded giving him a small kiss on the cheek, “Thanks babe.”

He pulled me upstairs by my hand and into his room. He got me his headphones and laid me down. He gave me a quick kiss on the forehead before leaving me to rest. I put my relaxing playlist on as loud as it could go, which thankfully blocked out my horrifying memories.

+_+_+_+_+_+_+

**Anxiety’s POV**

I was sitting in the living room watching a Disney movie with Thomas and Roman when the door opened and Logan and Patton walked in, hand in hand.

I couldn’t help it, I started laughing again but covered my mouth to hide it. Thomas was biting his lip in order to contain his chuckles. Roman was simply shaking his head with an extremely amused smile.

Patton tilted his head, “What’s so funny?”

I calmed my laughter checking the time to see it was noon, when I had planned to wake Harmony up. I walked towards the stairs but stopped at the bottom to turn to the couple with an amused grin.

“Next time you have a sleepover, try not to traumatize my girlfriend.”

Patton still looked confused while Logan figured it out immediately and began to blush heavily, “What are you talking about?”

I smirked devilishly, “Oh nothing… daddy kink.”

His face burst into red as it dawned on him. I simply gave an evil chuckle before jogging up the stairs. I got into my room smiling at the sight of Harmony sleeping peacefully. I walked over and sat on the edge of the bed next to her. 

She looked really cute, especially when her nose scrunches up a bit when she breathes in. I ran a hand through her blonde and red locks before gently shaking her shoulder.

She stirred before blinking her eyes open, “Hey…” Her voice was soft and mildly scratchy from sleep.

I smiled softly running my fingers through her hair again, “Feel any better?”

She nodded, “Physically, but I am still completely done mentally.”

I laughed lightly as she sat up and stretched, “Just to warn you, they just got back and…”

She narrowed her eyes at me knowing what I meant despite me trailing off, “You just had to tease them didn’t you?” I simply smiled at her causing her to chuckle, “It’s cool. Though I’m not sure I‘ll be able to look at Logan for a while. Not without hearing horrid,  _ horrid _ screams in my head.”

I chuckled reaching over to grab her hand, “How about we go out for a bit then? We could go anywhere you want.”

She bit her lip looking at me through he lashes, “Anywhere?” I nodded with a small smile. She giggled clapping her hands excitedly, “I have the perfect place!”

I chuckled giving her a quick kiss, “Might want to change though. I don’t think you’d appreciate everyone staring at your butt in those pajama shorts.”

She smirked slightly leaning closer to me, “Is that your way of admitting you’ve been checking me out?”

I blushed slightly, caught off guard by the sudden flirty response, “Uh…”

She giggled kissing my lips quickly before hopping off the bed. I couldn’t help myself, now that she said it, I was watching her swaying hips as she pranced to the door. Then she turned back to smirk at me which I replied to with a wink. She laughed lightly before continuing to her room.

I chuckled softly heading back downstairs to wait for her.

Logan glanced at me before blushing and looking away. Patton was still hiding his face in his hands as Roman attempted to comfort him.

I snickered slightly getting a reproachful look from Thomas, “Now, Anxiety, don’t tease them.”

I raised my hands in surrender, “I’m not. I’d just prefer if my girlfriend could sleep at night and doesn’t come down pale as a ghost the next morning.”

Harmony hesitantly came down the stairs and almost immediately tucked herself under my arm and to my side.

Patton look up with an awkward and sheepish smile, “Sorry?”

Harmony nodded giving an equally awkward smile, “I-It’s fine, you guys  **are** a couple… but I still don’t  **ever** want to hear… that again okay?”

Logan immediately nodded still looking slightly mortified and Patton nodded with an embarrassed chuckle. I gently guided Harmony towards the door, “Me and Harm are going out for a bit. We’ll be back later.”

I saw Harmony bite her lip in debate before she turned back to look at Logan with a teasing smirk, “Piece of advice Logan?” He just stared back at her horrified at whatever she was going to say. “Invest in a ball gag or something. Seriously, your screaming is horrific.”

With that she pulled me out of the house as Logan let out a groan of embarrassment. As soon as we were far enough away she began laughing, loud and carefree. I couldn’t help but join in with my own chuckles.

“And here I thought you were going to be too traumatized to even speak to them, Logan especially.”

She tried to calm her laughter, still giggling lightly every now and again, “D-Did you see his face?! I never thought Logan could turn so red!”

I chuckled grabbing her hand and pulling her to my side, “You, little missy, are just as bad as me now.”

She bit her lip giving me a playful look, “Hm, I don’t know about that. I wasn’t the one looking up Anxony smut on their laptop.”

I froze staring down at her wide eyed, “You did not…”

A large grin broke on her face as she skipped out of my grip and a few steps away, “You really shouldn’t leave it on and in my room.”

I waited a second until she let her guard down slightly before I grabbed her waist and picked her up. She squealed gripping onto my shoulder tightly. I smiled as carefree laughs fell from her lips before I put her down in front of me still holding her waist. I gently pulled her closer to me as her hands came to rest on my neck. I was smiling, probably like an idiot while she was giving me a joyful grin that could probably charm just about anyone.

Slowly we came back to reality and she grabbed my hand pulling me along, “Come on, I really wanna show you this place!”

I chuckled but didn’t protest as she pulled me along down the sidewalk and to a beaten path. I was slightly wary as we got further into the forest and were going seemingly nowhere.

Finally Harmony turned to me with a grin, “Close your eyes.” I raised an eyebrow at her and she groaned, “Please! I swear I won’t pull any tricks.”

I sighed but reluctantly closed my eyes and let her grab my hands to lead me through what I assumed to be the last of the path to whatever destination she had brought us to. I felt the gentle breeze stop as I was pulled onto a more even floor that gave a soft creak at my weight.

“Okay, open them!”

I did so only to blink in amazement. We were in what looked to be an abandoned barn, which had a bunch of stuff in it. It had little battery powered fairy lights hanging around the area, including across the edge of the small loft that hung there. There was about four mattresses stacked on top of each other just below the loft and there were worn bean bag chairs littered around as well. There was even a small desk in the corner with an old looking, plush computer chair.

“Wow,” I breathed out still amazed by the almost magical room.

Harmony giggled blushing a bit about something, “I found this place when I first moved here and slowly spruced it up with time. I-It’s kind of my little get away, when I need a break from the internet drama and annoyances of the outside world. I-I…” She bit her lip hesitating as she looked down shyly, “I’ve never really shown anyone this place before… B-But I wanted to share it with you.”

I smiled softly gently lifting her head so I could kiss her sweetly, “Thank you Harm. This place is… amazing.”

She smiled happily before her playfulness kicked in, “Wanna jump from the loft?”

“What?”

She laughed excitedly motioning to the mattresses, “I  _ love _ jumping from the loft! It’s such a rush!”

I glanced up warily at the height, “That’s like 13 feet…”

She smirked in challenge, “Chicken?”

I rolled my eyes, “Rather be a chicken than get a broken arm.”

She pouted a bit, “Fine, you don’t have to jump… But I’m going to!”

I tried to grab for her but she raced away and began climbing the ladder up the loft. 

I groaned in annoyance, “Harm, come on! What if you get hurt!?”

She let out a scoff, “I’ve done this thousands of times and have never gotten hurt! Well… I mean like one time I landed hard on my knee and bruised it but-”

“That doesn’t reassure me at all!” I cut her off giving her a glare as she stood at the edge of the loft, “Please don’t!”

She gave me a pleading look, “Just once? Then we can do whatever you want to do in here and I won’t do it in front of you again.”

I took in a deep breath trying to fight away the part of me that immediately wanted to cave at her cute expression, “Just once?” She nodded a small smile blossoming on her lips. “And you swear that you will never do it in front of me again? And we will do whatever I want after?” She nodded again growing more hopeful and excited. I sighed in defeat, “Once.”

She gave a little squeal as she clapped her hands, “I swear I’ll be fine!”

I nodded unable to help my worry and fear, which probably showed on my face. Part of me wanted to look away but I also wanted to make sure she was safe. She took in a deep breath before she jumped off the edge making my heart clench slightly. She landed safely on the mattresses with a small bounce.

I relaxed slightly as she began to laugh happily. She sat up to give me one of her charming smiles before she sat up fully on the mattresses and patted the spot next to her. I walked over sitting down while still trying to relax my pulse.

She giggled, “That was so fun! I haven’t gotten to do that in a while! Anyway, what would you like to do?”

I looked around for a moment before my eyes caught onto something. A guitar case was sitting in the opposite corner from there the desk was. 

I tilted my head slightly nodding to it, “You play guitar?”

She looked over frowning for a moment before turning back with a slightly unnerved smile, “Yea…”

I grabbed her hand running my thumb along the back of it, “Any reason you seem nervous about it?”

She hesitated before letting out a small sigh, “W-Well… I’ve never really played it in front of anyone. I-I was kinda expecting you to ask me to play if you saw it…”

I scooted closer to her cupping her face in my hands causing her to look at me, “I’m not going to force you to. If you don’t want to, then I understand.”

She smiled, “Thanks, I really appreciate it.” She then gave a sly smile before she threw her one leg over my lap and straddled me. I raised my eyebrows in shock to which she smirked, “I have an idea on what we could do…”

I hummed grabbing her waist and leaning closer to her, “And what might that be?”

She bit her lip successfully drawing my attention. I leaned even closer to her my lips brushing hers lightly. She giggled before she hopped off of me and skipped back a few steps.

I blinked at her getting a teasing smile in return, “We could play tag!”

I narrowed my eyes standing up, “You are so gonna get it.”

She sent a challenging smirk before she darted to the back exit of the barn. I quickly chased after her, following her aimless running. Finally I caught her waist when we had just gotten into a small clearing. She squealed and laughed trying to squirm out of my grip. I lifted her up and spun around before setting her back on the ground. She turned in my arms smiling happily.

I couldn’t help but smile back at her. I then realized, I’d probably give just about anything to be with this girl as long as possible.


	11. Roman aka King of Blackmail

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harmony gets caught doing something very naughty in her boyfriend's hoodie.

I was currently sitting on Anxiety’s bed with my arms crossed angrily and a pout on my lips as I watched him back his clothes into the duffel, “Why do you have to go?”

He chuckled, “For the 18th time, because Thomas asked me to.” I let out a small grumble earning an amused smile from him, “It’s only two days Harm.” 

I kept silent turning my back to him. I heard him sigh before the bed dipped and arms wrapped around my waist. I relaxed a little but still didn’t uncross my arms or drop my pout.

He kissed my shoulder, then my cheek, then my temple. I slowly lost my pout and uncrossed my arms with a sigh.

“I’ll be back by Saturday.” I sighed again feeling him smile against my hair, “Would you like it if I left my hoodie here for you?”

I paused before turning to him with suspicious eyes, “Which hoodie?”

He chuckled, “If you stop pouting and give me a kiss, I’ll leave your favorite one here.”

I hummed in reluctance before leaning up to kiss him quickly, “Fine, I’m just going to miss you.”

“I know. I’ll miss you too. But Thomas asked me to go.”

I huffed slightly but nodded, “Just be safe, please?”

He smiled giving me another kiss.

Soon they had loaded all their stuff into the car and Patton and I said goodbye to our boyfriends. It was only Thomas, Logan, and Anxiety going, leaving me, Patton, and Roman in the house by ourselves.

I announced I was going to take a shower before jogging up to the bathroom.

+_+_+_+_+_+

  1. Hate. Everything. 



“Oh kitten!” 

Mostly Roman.

I growled lowly at the nickname but went to the living room where a confused Patton and very smug Roman were sitting.

I forced a smile, “Yes, my king?”

Roman’s smile widened as he held up his empty glass, “Could you refill my water?”

I nodded still forcing a smile despite the deadly look in my eye, “Of course, my king.”

I went to the kitchen, not noticing Patton had followed until he spoke, “Okay, I need to know what happened.” I gave him a fake confused look to which he rolled his eyes, “You’ve been doing everything for Roman and calling him ‘my king’ for two days. Plus, you’re letting him get away with calling you kitten! So what the heck is going on?”

I blushed horribly making sure Roman was still out of the room before I whispered to him, “Promise you won’t tell Anxiety?” He nodded looking a little worried. I sighed, “The day they left, after my shower, I… may have put on Anxiety’s hoodie, the one he left for me.”

“You were in just the hoodie weren’t you?”

I gave an embarrassed nod before continuing, “And I realized it smelt like him, then I started thinking about him, and I got…  _ lonely _ .” Patton’s mouth dropped in shock and I nodded, “Yea, and it just happened to be one of those days where Roman decided knocking wasn’t important and happened to walk in as I moaned Anxiety’s name. After he got over the embarrassment, he decided it’d be perfect blackmail. So I am now doing everything in my power to keep him from telling Anx.”

Patton smiled a bit, “I am sorry to say that I can’t help you with that one. I promise not to tell Anxiety though. But you do realize they’ll be home in like five minutes and will be suspicious if they see you being Roman’s servant.”

“Yea, I know. But what am I going to do? I do  **not** want Anxiety knowing about… that.”

“Kitten!”

I took in a deep breath grabbing the glass of water, “Thanks for talking with me Pat.” I walked back into the living room handing Roman the glass of water with another fake smile, “Anything else, my king?”

He shook his head smiling smugly, “I’m good for now. Thanks kitten.”

I heard the front door open before Patton’s happy squeal as he probably attacked Logan. Which I couldn’t say much about because as soon as Anxiety rounded the corner, I practically tackled him in a hug.

He chuckled hugging me back, “Nice to see you too Harm.”

I smiled up at him happily, “You have no idea how happy I am to see you!”

“Not as happy as you were before.”

I shot a sharp glare at Roman, “I will kill you.”

He smiled obnoxiously, “What was the rule about threats?”

I gave him a dull embarrassed look, “You’re actually going to make me do that in front of everyone?” He nodded making me groan. I let go of a very confused Anxiety before walking over in front of Roman.

“I-”

“Nope,” He cut me off giving me the smuggest look I had ever seen, “On your knees.”

I slowly sank down to my knees glaring at him the whole time. And of course this had to be the moment where everyone was in the living room.

I forced a sweet smile onto my face, “I am dearly sorry, my king. I swear on my beauty that I shall never threaten you again.”

Roman smiled from ear to ear, “You are forgiven kitten.”

I got up quickly walking back to Anxiety and burying my face in his chest.

Thomas was the first one to come out of his shock and speak, “What the heck did I just witness?”

I groaned simply burrowing further into Anxiety. Patton chuckled quietly and I could tell Roman just continued to smile smugly at the back of my head.

“This… is not normal,” Logan managed to say still sounding shocked.

Roman chuckled evilly, “Kitten!” I growled but slowly turned with a fake smile which only widened his own smile, “Could you get me some chips from the cabinet?”

“Of course, my king.” I then walked into the kitchen and slammed my head against the fridge.

“Okay, what the heck is going on?”

I gave Thomas a dull look, “Ask Patton because I’m not explaining it again. Also, if you tell Anxiety I will personally break every bone in your body.”

He looked taken aback but nodded before leaving the room. I grabbed the chips from the cabinet and forced another smile to my face before walking into the living room. 

I handed Roman the chips ignoring Anxiety’s questioning look, “Here you are, my king.” I then braced myself to force the horrid words out of my mouth, “May I go rest for now, my king? I must rest my beauty for you.”

He smiled as he happily munched on a chip, “You get 15 minutes.” 

I stormed upstairs and into my room. I laid down on my bed burying my face into my pillow and screaming out my frustration. Then my door opened and I looked up to see a very amused and smug Logan.

I shot him a deadly glare, “I swear if you tell Anxiety what you know, I will burn your encyclopedias.”

He chuckled smiling at me, “This is what they call karma.” I growled at him and he laughed again, “Piece of advice, Harmony? Lock the door next time.”

I glared at him as he laughed, “Oh yea, laugh it up.”

He smiled smugly, “You know Anxiety will find out eventually right? Roman is not good at keeping secrets for very long.”

“And I’m going to prolong that as much as possible.”

He shook his head before leaving and closing the door. I groaned falling back to stare at the ceiling.

It probably wouldn’t happen for a while, right?


	12. Movie night gone wrong.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roman can't keep his mouth shut.

I was wrong, I was so,  _ so _ wrong.

Patton decided it’d be nice to watch a movie as a family since everyone was finally back. So we were all forced into the living room to watch Moana. Everything was fine, playful banter and jokes…

Until Anxiety and Roman began to fight over Disney themes again.

“You can’t tell me you don’t see the darker meanings in those movies!”

“How could you hate the movies so much!?”

“I never said I hated them! They just have dark meanings!”

“You’re a dark meaning!”

“And you’re an over imaganitive thought!”

And that’s when it happened.

“You wanna talk about imaginative thoughts?! Why don’t you ask your girlfriend what she was thinking about when wearing your hoodie?!”

I froze completely as Anxiety gave me a confused look, “What is he talking about?”

I glared at Roman who looked like he hadn’t meant to blurt that out, “I am going to kill you.”

“It’s not my fault you can’t handle the smell of your boyfriend without getting needy!”

Anxiety’s eyes widened as it dawned on him. Roman covered his mouth realizing what he had just said. Patton and Thomas both gave me sympathetic looks and Logan was glancing warily between me and Roman, as if expecting me to actually attack him. My face was slowly getting redder and redder and small tears of sheer embarrassment formed in my eyes.

I shook my head slowly standing up and forcing a chuckle that didn’t sound quite right, “Thanks Roman. Thank you so much for putting me through an embarrassing hell for two days and then going and blurting out the one thing you promised not to. You really are a great prince, a  **true** knight in shining armor.”

With that I ran upstairs wiping my eyes as I went. I got to my room and slammed the door shut locking it tightly before sinking to the floor. I tried to force back my tears but that only succeeded in making them fall faster. I didn’t let out any sobs, only a few sniffles and choked breaths.

Knocking sounded from the other side of the door before Patton spoke, “Harm? You okay?”

“I’m fine Patton.”

My voice was distant, even to me.

He sighed, “I’m sure Roman didn’t mean to-”

“If he didn’t mean it, he wouldn’t have said it.”

Patton sighed again, “I’ll… leave you be.”

I heard him walk away. I shakily got up and walked over to my bed. I buried my face into my pillow hugging it tightly.

I heard a hesitant knock and I groaned, “I said I’m fine Patton!”

I got no response so I assumed he got discouraged and walked away. But, to my surprise, the door opened. I didn’t move my face in fear of it being Roman or Anxiety.

“Harm,” I relaxed a little at the sound of Thomas’ voice, “You know you can’t just lock yourself away right?”

I slowly turned my head to look at him, “Why not?”

He smiled a little amused, “Because Patton will get worried and start freaking out… and Roman wouldn’t have a chance to apologize.”

With that Roman walked in with a very regretful look. I pointedly looked away from him as I sat up.

I heard him sigh, “Harmony, I am  **truly** sorry that I blurted that out to everyone. I should never have blackmailed you into doing all that stuff in the first place. It was very unnoble of me and I do hope that you can find it in you to forgive me.”

I hesitated before looking back at him with a small smile, “I forgive you.” He smiled at me happily. “But, for the love of god, start knocking before barging into a room.”

He nodded blushing a bit, “Of course. Thank you for not being too angry at me.”

Thomas chuckled, “I’m going to head back downstairs.”

I nodded and they left my room. I sighed leaning back before my eyes glanced at the hoodie that was thrown over my desk chair. Truth be told, after being caught in it, I never put it back on. I hesitated before I got up and walked over. I picked it up gently before putting my arms through the sleeves. I looked into my floor length mirror smiling slightly. Since Anxiety was 5’10 while I was 5’2, the hoodie came down past my waist and the sleeves could cover my hands if I let them. I couldn’t help but breath in the smell lingering on the hoodie. I really did love the way Anxiety smelled. Smokey and masculine. It was comforting.

“You look good in my clothes.”

I jumped violently, whipping around to stare wide eyed at a smirking Anxiety. He took my silence as an opportunity to walk further into the room and shut the door behind him.

I blushed heavily as I processed what he had said, “U-Uh-I-You know what? I am really thirsty right now! I think I need some water!” I blurted out before brushing past him to the door.

As soon as my hand grazed the door knob though, I was turned and pinned against the door. I gasped looking up into his dark, amused eyes. I swallowed thickly trying to push away the fast beating of my heart caused by the playful smirk on his face.

He leaned closer me his lips brushing against mine, “So… what exactly did you do while wearing my hoodie?”

My blushed darkened which I thought was impossible at this point, “I-I-I… Um…” I tried to form a coherent sentence but the way he was looking at me caused some part of me to buzz with excitement, making it extremely hard to focus.

I couldn’t help but lick over my lips trying to moisten my dry mouth. That unfortunately caught Anxiety’s attention and only made his eyes darken further. 

I swallowed hard again trying to force out my words which was a struggle, “I-I uh… I just got-It um…”

His smirked widened in amusement, “I’m waiting for an answer Harmony.”

Something about the way he said my name made my heart pick up speed with excitement. His voice was lower than normal, husky and almost sensual.

“I-I got um… l-lonely while wearing it?” I managed to force my words out but they came off more as a question.

He hummed lightly, “You must have been pretty lonely for Roman to walk in on you moaning my name.” I swallowed again which he must have noticed because he chuckled lightly, “Nervous, are we?”

I took in a deep breath before speaking, “I-I was just um… I j-just realized it smelt like you a-and I…” I trailed off not really wanting to go into details about what I thought.

He chuckled, the low sound making my heart stutter, “I didn’t realize my smell was that attractive to you.”

And now that he mentioned it, I realized I was basically surrounded in his scent. I also noticed he was pressed against me, trapping my body between him and the door. His hands were on my hips, his eyes were locked onto mine in a dark gaze, and his mouth was pulled into an amused, almost sultry smirk.

My lips parted slightly as I finally glanced down at his lips which were extremely tempting. I saw them twitch as he obviously noticed where my focus went. 

“Something you need, Harm?”

I finally reached my limit of how much teasing I could take. I reached my hand to the back of his head, tangling it in his hair as I crashed my lips into his, going onto my tiptoes to reach. He let out a small, pleased noise kissing me back with just as much need as I was putting into the kiss. Our kiss was desperate, hot, needy, and passionate all at the same time. His tongue slipped into my mouth as my other hand ran down his chest, a little annoyed at the fabric in the way. I felt his hand slip past his hoodie and under my shirt to massage my waist. I let out a small moan at the feeling, not quite used to being touched by someone else in that way.

Then a knock sounded on the door behind us causing us to reluctantly part, panting to catch our breaths. Anxiety didn’t leave my skin though, he simply began kissing down my neck. My breath hitched slightly as he reached a more sensitive point, which I didn’t think was possible with how sensitive my neck was naturally.

“Harm?” Patton’s voice shouted, “Pizza is here! Are you going to come down to eat!?”

I got slightly distracted as Anxiety bit down gently before sucking on that bit of skin. I sunk my teeth into my bottom lip struggling not to let out any noises. 

“Harm? You okay?” Patton asked a little worried. 

I swallowed hard and gently pushed on Anxiety’s shoulder to get it him to stop so I could focus. He stayed stubbornly for a moment before reluctantly pulling back. I almost got pulled back in by the look in his darkened eyes but I turned my head at the last second to respond to Patton.

“Yea, I’ll be down in a minute,” I called back sounding a little breathless. 

“Don’t take too long!”

I heard him walk away and I focused back on Anxiety who was breathing just as heavily, “Tell me you didn’t leave a mark.”

He smirked slightly making my eyes narrow, “Not too badly.”

I groaned walking over to my mirror and looking at my neck. He wasn’t wrong, the mark was a little large but not too dark. It shouldn’t be that noticeable.

I sighed pulling the hoodie up more to cover it, “I’ll deal with it in the morning.” I turned to give him a smirk, “Let’s get back downstairs before the others get suspicious.”

**+Bonus Part+**

**The next morning~**

I came downstairs with a small yawn as I walked to the kitchen.

“Harmony?” I hummed to let Thomas know I was listening. “What’s that on your neck?”

I gave him a confused look, my tired brain not processing fast enough, “What?”

He poked part of my neck making realization wash over me, “There’s a mark.”

I chuckled nervously, “O-Oh that! Um… I burned myself curling my hair the other day!”

Thomas gave me a dull look, “You never curl your hair.”

I let out another nervous laugh as I backed away from him, “Y-Yea well, I decided to give it a try!”

I felt arms wrap around my waist before a kiss was placed on the mark making me blush heavily, “Morning babe.”

I winced at Thomas’ face of realization.

“‘Not too badly’ huh?” I hissed to him shooting him a glare over my shoulder. 

He smirked back at me, “You’re the one who said you’d deal with it in the morning.”

Thomas started to snicker but covered his mouth with his hand to try and hide it. I groaned and stormed back upstairs to get dressed for work. 

Living with all boys is so annoying at times.


	13. The spark that started the fire.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mark finally moves to Florida but causes some tension in the process.

I was editing my latest video when Thomas came into my room with a wide smile, “Harmony, there’s a very important package for you downstairs.”

I furrowed my brow in confusion, “I don't remember ordering anything. Who's it from?”

His smile only widened, “Why don't you come find out?”

I narrowed my eyes but took off my headphones and followed him out of my room. I jogged down the stairs and let out a gasp at what was waiting in the living room. There stood Mark with a bow on his shoulder and his arms out. I let out a loud squeal and practically tackled him in a hug. 

He laughed hugging me back, “Hey baby!”

I pulled back to hit his arm, “Why wasn't I told you were coming?”

He smiled, “Well, there's something a little special about this visit.” I shot him a questioning look. “I may have gotten an apartment that's 10 minutes away.”

I let out another squeal hugging him again, “Oh my god! Finally!”

I heard footsteps on the stairs before Anxiety's voice reached my ears, “Uh, what's going on?”

I pulled back giving Anxiety an excited smile as I grabbed his hand and pulled him to stand next to me, “Anx! This is my friend Mark! Who finally decided to move here!”

He chuckled at my bouncing before turning to Mark with a small smile, “I'm Anxiety, Harmony's boyfriend.”

Mark chuckled, “Oh, believe me, I know. This chick never shuts up about you.”

I whacked his arm again, “Shut up Mark! Like you don't rant for days on end when you find someone cute!”

Mark laughed lightly hugging an arm around me to pull me to his side, “Get over it Hope. You know I'm going to tell him some stuff.”

I groaned, shoving him lightly, “Why do I love you again?”

He smirked, “You'd be lost without me baby.”

“Baby?” Anxiety questioned in a flat tone.

Mark laughed, “Sorry, I'm just used to calling her that. When we first met she was sobbing because some kid broke her toy dump truck. So after fixing it for her, I called her a cry baby.” He chucked reminiscently, “She shoved me onto the sidewalk and told me never to call her it again. So to tease her, I started calling her baby.”

I rolled my eyes despite the smile on my lips, “I've tried to get him to stop but he's such a stubborn ass.”

Mark chuckled giving me a squeeze, “So Hope, how would you like to come shopping with me for apartment stuff?”

I smiled, “A day of shopping with my best friend since diapers? Hell yea!”

Anxiety let out a chuckle but it sounded odd, “Have fun with that. I'm going back to scrolling through tumblr endlessly.”

Deciding it was probably just my imagination, I smiled going on my tiptoes to plant a quick kiss on his lips, “I'll be back in an hour or two!”

“Bye…”

Mark and I headed to his car and drove to the local supermarket. We got inside and began looking for the very basic things he needs. 

“So how are things going with mister edgy Mc My Chemical Romance?” Mark asked as we looked towels. 

I smiled widely, “Things are so amazing. He's so sweet and patient with me, even when I get my little flashbacks and stuff.”

Mark nodded picking up a set of green towels, “How much have you told him about all that stuff?”

I shrugged, “He knows stuff most people don't know.”

“You haven't had any major panic episodes yet, right?”

I nodded biting my lip, “I hope I don't have one when he's around. I-I don't know how he'd react if I started seeing him as Taylor by accident.”

That was probably the worst thing that the relationship between Taylor and I caused. On very rare occasions, usually when I'm already having a panic attack from memories, I'll have a brief flashback to whatever moment I was thinking about. I used to have them a lot more when I first left him, I can remember when Thomas had to calm me down from one the first night I stayed at his place. I don't have them as often anymore, thank god. 

Mark smiled, “Could you go get me two pillows while I find a new blanket? I'll meet you over there in a few minutes.”

I nodded with a smile, “Extra fluffy right?”

He winked, “You know me so well baby.”

I chuckled as I walked past him to the pillow section. I began looking at the poofier pillows since he likes really soft ones. 

“Funny running into you Treble.”

I froze before turning with a forced polite smile, “Nice to s-see you Taylor.”

He smiled sweetly, “It's lovely to see you too. How's everything been? Heard you found a new boytoy.”

I tensed slightly my breathing deepening ever so slightly, “Y-Yea, I did.”

“How's that working out? Is he as good to you as I was?”

_ Liar,  _ My mind screamed as my skin began to itch. 

I swallowed hard to clear my closing throat, “H-He’s great.”

Taylor's smiled turned dark, “Do you hold him at night? Telling him how much he means to you? You used to do it with me a lot. You used to say I was the best thing that ever happened to you. I wonder what happened.”

I could feel my scalp prickling and my nails were biting into my palms. He knew what he was doing. He was trying to make me panic and fall back into his game. He's tried it a time or two before but someone was always there to save me. Now, there's no one around. I'd have to save myself. 

“He means everything to me, a lot more than you ever did,” I managed to force out in a strong tone that was completely opposite to how I was feeling on the inside. 

Taylor looked shocked and a little angry, “I guess you've moved on then huh?” I simply nodded unable to force out any more strong words. 

“Is something wrong here?” Mark’s voice broke through the tense air. 

Taylor flipped on a friendly persona, “Nothing's wrong. Just saying hi to an old friend. Didn't know you were in town Mark.”

Mark glared at him coming to stand next to me, “Moving here actually. So I'll be able to spend more time with Harmony.”

Taylor nodded, “Cool. Well I gotta go.” He sent me a sweet smile, “Guess I'll see you around Treble.” 

He shot me a wink that made my stomach churn before walking away. Despite how strong I acted, I was completely breaking down inside.

Mark wrapped an arm around me, only succeeding in making my skin itch more, “Are you okay?”

“I want to go home,” Was all I could mumble blankly. 

He nodded, “Why don't you go wait in the car while I pay for everything? I'll be out in 5 minutes tops.”

I nodded mutely and walked robotically to the car. I felt like I was losing my own mind. My skin was crawling and my head was pounding. My nails were craving to dig into my wrists as if that would somehow help the lump imbedded in my throat. My lungs were screaming from how fast they were working. 

Mark didn't say anything when he got in the car which I was grateful for. He drove me back home and managed to say a quick bye before I rushed into the house. I ran up to my room ignoring Thomas’ hello.

I got into my room only to find Anxiety sitting on my bed scrolling on his phone. No, I’m on the verge of breaking down. I didn't want anyone to witness it.

“You realize it's been 4 hours right?” Anxiety’s voice managed to break me from my thoughts. 

“W-We lost track of time I-I guess. S-Sorry.”

I was a little surprised when he stood up looking angry, “What were you doing that could take up 4 hours?” He demanded.

I ran a hand through my hair shakily trying to ease the burning, “We w-were just shopping for house supplies. He d-didn’t want to take any of his mom's stuff.”

He scoffed, “Sounds like a nice story  _ baby _ .”

I managed to process somewhere in my haze that he was jealous and tried to force myself to get rid of the panic pushing in my mind, “Anx, i-it isn't like that, I swear. You know I would never cheat.”

He let out another scoff, “Really? That's awfully hard to believe when you go out for 4 hours with your  _ best friend since diapers _ !”

I knew I couldn't handle an argument right now. I was only just staving off my breakdown. 

“C-Can we talk about this later? I-I need to be alone right now.”

“Why?! So you can text your little lover boy?!”

His shouting only helped to further the pounding in my head, “A-Anx, it seriously isn't like t-that.”

Then he suddenly turned raising his hands and my mind broke. My mind took me back and all I could see was Taylor’s hand coming towards me. I flinched instinctively and blurted out words I hadn't said in years. 

“I'm sorry sir!”

That's when the room went cold and still. I slowly opened my eyes in time to see Anxiety’s hands drop and his face turn confused. My panic calmed as I realized what I had just said, when I realized he had just been throwing his hands up in anger but not in a threatening manner. 

“Did… Did you just call me sir?”

I breathed deeply stuttering for an escape, “I-I-”

“Taylor…” Was all he mumbled as his face turned dark, not an angry dark, more like a very depressed dark. 

“I-I swear I didn't mean to-”

“No it's cool. I remind you of your abusive ex. That's cool.”

“Anxiety…” I trailed reaching a hand out only to have him step back like I offered him a snake. 

I slowly dropped my hand looking away from him ashamed. It was tensely silent, waiting for one of us to do something, anything to try and fix things. I wanted to say something that would magically make everything okay again but I had no idea what. 

“I should go…”

I felt him brush past me obviously trying to not touch me. I closed my eyes tightly as the door clicked shut behind me. It only took a few moments for everything to process and the tears to break through. 

I let out a single sob before placing a hand over my mouth to quiet them. I didn't deserve to cry after what I had just done. I hurt him… badly. And I don't even know if I  **can** fix it. 

I heard a knock at my door and quickly wiped my face and collected myself. I walked over and opened the door with a small forced smile. 

Logan frowned back at me, “Is everything okay Harmony?”

I swallowed hard before speaking, “Yea, yea, everything's fine. Why do you ask?”

He cleared his throat awkwardly, “Patton and I were just in my room and-”

“You heard everything didn't you?”

His frown deepened but he nodded, “Patton went to check on Anxiety and told me to make sure you were alright.”

My eyes drifted down to the floor before going back to his eyes, “Don't worry about me.”

“Harmony-”

“No,” I cut him off in a stern tone, “I don't need help right now. Make sure Anx is okay. He… deserves your caring a lot more than I do right now.”

Logan gave me a sad look but nodded, “If… that's what you want.”

“Thanks for checking on me Logan.”

“Anytime.”

I closed the door leaning my forehead against it for moment. How was I supposed to fix this? This was by far my biggest screw up. I turned around to lean my back against the door. I looked around my room finding little reminders of Anxiety. There was a black eyeshadow container on my desk. He liked to do his makeup in here, better lighting apparently. One of his hoodies was sitting across my desk chair. It wasn't the same one he left for me before, not my favorite one… but it still caused my feelings to rage for hurting him like I did. 

I didn't hesitate to walk over and pick it up. I held it to my nose and breathed in his comforting scent. It helped ease some of the panic still stirring in the back of my mind. I slowly slipped it on and hugged it around myself tightly.

I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. I turned my head to look closer at the guitar case by my desk. I was trying to build up the courage to play it on front of Anxiety recently.

An idea hit me hard and fast. I snatched my guitar out of its case and grabbed an old notebook from my desk drawer. I began to brainstorm through the ideas flying through my head. I began testing out different chords to see how they sounded together. I slowly found what sounded best and got some chords down before lyrics were inked onto the page as well. 

I spared a glance at the clock seeing it was already midnight. I bit my lip before deciding another hour or two wouldn't hurt since I had the late shift tomorrow.

With that thought in mind, I continued to write down chords and lyrics, hopeful that I could pull this off. 


	14. Endlessly trying

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harmony tries to finish up her song and makes a few realizations along the way.

I yawned as I walked through the door, glad to be home from work so I could practice a little more. I had gotten the song almost fully written but still needed to practice it. I wanted it to be perfect. 

I saw something in black rush up the stairs and tried to ignore the sting in my chest. I walked in to the living room where Roman was sitting shooting me a sympathetic look. 

I managed a small tired smile, “Hey Roman. How's everything going?”

He gave me another sad look, “How long are you going to keep jeopardizing your health?”

My smile dimmed slightly, “Tomorrow’s the big night.”

Roman had come to talk to me the day after me and Anxiety’s fight. He felt the burst of inspiration, but said it was dull. Like my brain was muddled by tiredness or sadness, or something else negative. He already knew about the fight considering Anxiety practically runs out of the room when I enter. Roman said he hasn't been sleeping well either. But mine was more forcing myself to stay awake to finish my apology, not that I really wanted to sleep either. My dreams were plagued by heartbroken brown eyes and my own stupid words. Roman found out about me staying up till 3 am to finish part of the song and tried to convince me to sleep sooner that night. I refused until he started staying up with me forcing my care for my friend to take over and me to go to sleep at 1 am. He's managed to get me sleeping at 12 or 12:30 on more inspired nights but I still wasn't sleeping well. I'd wake up at 4 am and go back to writing before work. 

He sighed bringing my attention back to him, “Have you finished it yet?”

“Just touching up word choices and some chords. It's going pretty well actually. Now to just magically get over my stage fright before tomorrow night.”

He frowned, “You know you could just do it in front of him, not a whole music club.”

I shook my head, “He doesn't stay in the room more than five seconds when I come in. How do I convince him to let me play in front of him?” I smiled a bit, “Plus isn't it romantic to face your fears for your significant other?”

Roman shook his head, “Not at the risk of your already drained health!”

I sighed, “I have to do this Roman. I… I can't leave things where they are now. Even if he doesn't forgive me… I-I can say I tried right?”

Roman frowned again, “Try not to kill yourself before then.”

I chucked weakly, “Got it. Thanks for all the help Roman.”

I jogged up the stairs only to run into a hard chest at the beginning of the hallway. I looked up to meet familiar eyes with dark bags underneath, that, for once, weren’t caused by eyeshadow. I froze for a second as did he. We hadn't run into each other all that much. When he wanted to avoid someone, he sure could avoid them. But, even knowing that, I couldn't help searching his familiar features like nothing had changed. I almost wanted to just up and kiss him… but I knew where the boundaries were right now. 

I broke myself out of my trance looking away from his eyes and mumbling a soft, “Excuse me,” before walking around him to my door. 

I could have sworn I felt him staring at my back but ignored it as my door shut. I let out a breath I didn't realize I had been holding. It was harder than I thought to see him and not be able to touch him. 

I sighed going back to my desk and reading through my notebook quickly. I changed some chords quickly before picking up my guitar. I had grown callouses across my fingertips from strumming and pressing down on the strings so much in the past 4 days.

Now that I thought about it, this was probably the longest time me and Anxiety have not talked since they got here. The most before this was maybe a day. We started to get along pretty quickly. When was it that he stopped his whole big bad act? 

_ A soft thump woke me up from my sleep. I rubbed my eyes glancing at the time to see it was midnight. I jumped at the sound of another thump. I slowly got out of my warm bed and headed to the hallway. There was a soft, panicked breathing coming from the room we had given to Anxiety.  _

_ I hesitated before knocking softly. I heard shuffling before the door opened a crack to reveal part of Anxiety’s face.  _

_ “What do you want?” _

_ I ignored his annoyed tone but noted the shaking in it.  _

_ I smiled, “Is everything okay?” _

_ His eyes glanced frantically over my face, “I'm fine.” _

_ I bit my lip hesitating for a moment, “I um… I heard thumping and…” _

_ He sighed defeatedly, “I… I-I'm just having a small panic issue. Don't worry about it.” _

_ “Could… I try to help?” _

_ He chuckled humorlessly, “What could you do?” _

_ I bit my lip again out of nervousness, “I-I mean I've helped Thomas with his panic attacks…” I saw him hesitate. “You don't have to say yes. I just want to make sure you're okay.” _

_ “Get in here.” _

_ He opened the door further and I stepped into the dim room. I went and sat on the bed and he joined me after a minute of fidgeting. _

_ “How do you usually help Thomas anyway?” _

_ “Um… Trust me, okay?” _

_ He nodded with a wary look on his face. I gave a reassuring smile before gently grabbing his shoulder. He tensed up but didn't protest to what I was doing. I guided him so his head was laying in my lap. I began gently running my fingers through his hair. He relaxed almost immediately slowly closing his eyes. I smiled a bit at the peaceful look on his face. Even though they all had Thomas' face, somehow I found his cuter. _

_ “Mind me asking what caused you to panic?” I asked softly not stopping my fingers.  _

_ “I just don't like unfamiliar places.” _

_ “I guess I should have expected that. You guys are fractions of Thomas after all.” _

_ He sighed, “Yea and I just happen to be the bad part.” _

_ “I don't think so.” _

_ He opened his brown eyes to stare at me, “How so?” _

_ I smiled, “Well anxiety isn't always a bad thing. It can help you get out of bad situations and it pushes you to do things you might not want to do, like study or rethink your words.” _

_ He let out a soft chuckle that made a weird feeling stir in my chest, “You really are too optimistic sometimes.” _

_ “It's not a bad thing to be optimistic.” _

_ “But it can lead to disappointment. If you always look on the bright side, you get even more disappointed when things end on the dark side.” _

_ I chewed on my lip for a moment, “I’m used to disappointment anyway. What's a little extra, right?” _

_ His brows furrowed, “You… are very strange.” _

_ I smiled, “Not the first time I've heard that.” _

_ He let out a little breath of laughter before giving me a small smile, “Thanks for coming to check on me. Even though I was a bit of a prick when we first met.” _

_ I giggled which seemed to cause his smile to widen just a tad, “I just love helping people, I guess.” _

We spent almost an hour talking after that. It was the first time in a long while I had found someone new to be comfortable around. I wasn't an extremely social person to be begin with. Besides the times I'd hang out with Thomas’ friends, I was usually alone. 

I couldn't help but let out a sigh as I was reminded of where things stood right now. I honestly wasn't sure if I would be able to fix things. I had hurt him a lot with my actions, despite them only being caused by my panic attack. I couldn't ever think Anxiety would hurt me. He had never even yelled at me before our fight.

All at once, I felt a hateful bitterness build in my chest and for once it wasn't at myself, it was at Taylor and everything he put me through. Even 2 years after I got away, he still plagued my every move. 

“ _ You're not weak just because you can't face someone who put you through hell.” _

That bitterness relaxed a bit. Anxiety was the first person to tell me that, and have me actually want to believe his words. He understood that it wasn't an easy process for me, even 2 years after the fact. He made everything better, it seemed. Even just sitting in my room editing a video was better when he was around. 

I decided in that moment that I was going to change. I didn’t care how long it would take to do it, I was going to stop living in the past. I was going to move on from Taylor, truly move on.

I looked at my notebook before beginning to erase part of the lyrics and writing down new ones. My lips twitched with the hint of a smile. 

Maybe I could fix this… I had to. 


	15. I'm sorry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anxiety gets dragged out of the house by the others.

**[Song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBfUoKdi4Kg) **

**Anxiety's POV**

 

“Hurry up Anxiety!”

I grumbled slightly as I pulled on one of my hoodies and headed downstairs, “I'm done…”

Roman smiled, “Finally! Now come on. We gotta hurry.”

“I still don't see why it's so important for me to get out suddenly,” I grumbled as they pulled me down the sidewalk to god knows where. 

It was true. Everyone had been leaving me alone to be depressed. Well except Patton, he had been checking on me every so often to make sure I had eaten. 

Everyone found out about me and Harmony's fight pretty quickly. It wasn't hard for them to figure it out, considering I had been going up to my room when she entered the room I was in previously. Thomas was the first to ask what happened, unsurprisingly. I heard him ask Harmony from my room… She explained everything to him and even said it was her fault. 

It wasn't though, not in my mind. I put all the blame on myself for being so jealous over nothing. My own self deprecating thoughts lead to me feeling inferior and snapping at her for no reason. I know she would never cheat on me for any reason. 

And then when she flinched at me raising my hands, sure it hurt me in the moment but I should have paid more attention to all the panic she was feeling. She was on the verge of a major panic attack and only asked me to leave so she wouldn't break down in front of me. But I was too caught up in my own jealousy to think about all the negative things rolling off of her. 

Thomas smiled slightly as we entered a music club, “You guys get a table, I have to check on something.”

We all sat down in the center of the room and got breadsticks and drinks. Everyone was talking normally while I sat there hunching into my hoodie. 

After 2 performers Thomas came back and sat down next to me with a half worried, half hopeful look. A man who seemed to be some sort of worker for the club came on stage with a smile. 

“How's everyone doing tonight?” He was met with loud cheering. “Awesome! Anyway we have a very special performance tonight by a lovely lady. She wants to say that she's sorry to her loving boyfriend for hurting him. Give it up for Harmony!” 

I immediately tried to get up but Thomas put a hand on my shoulder and pushed me back down. I shot him a glare but focused back on the stage where Harmony now sat with a guitar on her lap. I could feel her anxiety pounding away as she gave the crowd a shaky smile. 

She almost reluctantly began to play her guitar, “ _ Went for my favorite lipstick, but I thought twice. He told me he didn't like it, but I thought it was nice. Going out to have a drink with some old friends. Can’t put down my phone, cause in a minute he’d call again. _ ” Her voice was shaking every so slightly as she sang clearly and strongly into the microphone. I knew it wasn’t singing she was nervous about, she does vocal covers on her channel all the time, it was playing guitar in front of people. “ _ Every time I try, try to break the habit, I take a deep breath and I remember that, this ain’t then and he’s not him. Remind myself I can be myself again. Waking up to someone new, thanking god that it’s you, cause this ain’t then and he’s not him. _ ” Her anxiety wasn’t easing up at all, in fact it only seemed to increase as she played which was unusual. “ _ He’d always call me names, not the ones I wanted to hear. Now it’s only baby, honey, whispered in my ear. He’d always put me down when I was going up. He always wanted more, but more was never enough. Every time I try, try to break the madness, I take a deep breath and I remember that, this ain’t then and he’s not him. Remind myself, I can be myself again. Waking up to someone new, thanking god that it’s you, cause this ain’t then and he’s not him. _ ” Her eyes met mine and it suddenly felt like we were the only people there. Her anxiety finally let up a little causing her to relax slightly, “ _ Guess it took going through him to get to you. It was worth it all, what he put me through. This ain’t then and he’s not him, _ ” A small smile twitched on her lips as she stared at me, “Thank god.” She kept eye contact as she began to sing strongly once again, “ _ This ain’t then and he’s not him. Remind myself, I can be myself again. Waking up to someone new, thanking god that it’s you, cause this ain’t then and he’s not him. This ain’t then and he’s not him. Remind myself, I can be myself again. Waking up to someone new, thanking god that it’s you, cause this ain’t then and he’s not him. No, this ain’t then and he’s not him… _ ”

As she trailed off cheers erupted around us causing her gaze to snap up to look around the room. Her anxiety increased again as she gave a shaky smile to the crowd.

“T-Thanks for listening.”

She then rushed off stage. I got up, getting to back hallway in time to see her set her guitar against the wall and slam into the unisex bathroom. I followed inside frowning at the sight of her leaning over the toilet dry heaving. I sighed kneeling next to her and holding back her long hair. I rubbed her back in circles as she threw up. As disgusting as it was, I couldn’t help but notice she wasn’t throwing up much food.

Finally she leaned back against the wall and sighed. I got up and got one of the disposable cup filling it with water before handing it to her. She quickly swished it in her mouth before spitting it into the toilet. She flushed it quickly before that awkward atmosphere that had been hanging around whenever we did see each other came back.

“I-”

“No,” I cut her off sternly, “I’m going to talk and you’re going to listen.” She shut her mouth and nodded with a sullen look on her face. I took in a deep breath, “What could have possibly possessed you into going on stage and playing guitar for a whole crowd of people even though you’ve said you’ve never played in front of anyone because it makes you nervous? Why would you cause yourself that much stress? Did you think I wouldn’t be able to feel the tiredness and anxiety rolling off of you? I can guess you were already stressed enough from our fight. So please do tell me what made you decide to cause yourself even more stress than before.”

I don’t know what I was expecting… but it definitely wasn’t for her to start laughing. It wasn't her usual carefree, happy laugh. No, this was sad and full of finally cracking stress. 

She gave me a wobbly smile, “I did it because I'm sorry.” I blinked at her and she took the opportunity to keep going, “I-I am so,  **so** sorry for hurting you like I did. I have no right to think you would  **ever** lay a hand on me in a threatening way. I-I… I have no excuse for acting the way I did. I need to stop using one bad relationship as a crutch for acting like a whiny brat about everything that happens. I can't keep living my life like that.” She bit her lip hesitating before looking up at me nervously. She stood up slowly so we were at a more even level. She grabbed one of my hands in hers and smiled an adorably nervous grin, “I-I want to stop living in the past. I want to get better and move on from all of this. I-I know I've made a real mess of things and I entirely blame myself for being dumb and not just talking to you about how I was feeling. And I know I shouldn't ask this, but can you-”

I couldn't take it anymore. Being this close to her, her adorable smile, and her cute nervous talking were all driving me crazy. I crashed my lips into hers holding our hands against my chest while my other hand went to her waist. Her hand flew to grip my hair and pull me closer. I had missed this so much and, by the way she was acting, so did Harmony. 

Slowly, and reluctantly, we pulled back to breath. I started into her familiar grey orbs smiling lightly. She smiled back looking a little less stressed out.

“You talk too much.” She giggled but let me continue, “I don't blame you for what happened. I was being an overly jealous prick.”

She smiled a bit, “You… were jealous of Mark?”

I nodded blushing a bit, “W-Well, you seemed so comfortable around him and he is tall and good looking so-”

“He's about as straight as a circle too.”

I stopped short, “What?”

She smiled at me in amusement, “Mark's as gay as a two dollar bill Anx. He's not, nor will he ever be, interested in women.”

I chuckled nervously, “Did I mention I tend to overreact at times?”

She giggled before sighing, “Thank you for being so patient with me. I don't deserve it with how I've been acting but… I'm taking steps to get better, even if they are a little late.”

I pulled her closer to me, “What do you mean?”

She smiled nervously, “Thomas and Mark helped me find a good therapist that works with abuse victims of all kinds. I'll be going to group therapy as well as some one on one sessions.”

I searched her eyes looking for any signs that she was forcing herself to do this, “Is this what you really want then?”

She nodded, “I'm done living in the past. I want to move on already. And…” She bit her lip before shuffling closer and smiling up at me, “I want you to be the person I can move on with. Cause I-I…” She paused a moment before letting out a determined breath, “I love you.”

I stared at her for a moment, almost not believing the words that had come out of her mouth. She looked extremely nervous waiting for my reaction. I pulled her into another passionate kiss. I could still feel her nerves so I pulled back to smile at her. 

“I love you too.”

She smiled relieved, “You scared me for a second there Anxiety.”

I hesitated for a second considering what I was thinking about doing carefully, “You know… since we're admitting things and all…” She tilted her head slightly. I bit the inside of my check before sighing, “Virgil.”

She blinked, “Huh?”

I blushed, “My name is Virgil.”

She blinked for another moment before a smile lit up her face, “Yes! I can finally get my 20 bucks from Thomas!”

I raised an eyebrow at her, “You bet on me?”

She giggled, “Well at first it was just a theory that your name was something you were embarrassed about but when we started dating Thomas and I got into a pretty heated debate about who you would tell first. He bet it would be him or one of the other sides and I bet it would be me.”

I rolled my eyes, “So glad my girlfriend decided to make a bet on me. I feel so loved.”

She giggled again leaning up to peck my lips, “You know I love you but c’mon, I couldn't let this go by without getting some cash.”

I chuckled, “I’m just glad you didn’t laugh at my name. I mean, come on, Virgil? It’s a bit nerdy.”

She smiled, “Like you aren’t a bit nerdy yourself?” I shot her a deadpan look and she giggled, “Seriously though, I like it. It’s cute.”

I groaned, “Don’t call me cute.”

She smiled playfully, some of that old light returning to her eyes, “Well now I’m just going to call you cute every chance I get.” I shot her a glare making her smile widen, “Come on. Let’s get back to the others before they get worried.”

She grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the dingy bathroom and into the main floor of the club. 

Thomas smiled noticing us first, “Everything worked out?”

Harmony nodded with a happy smile as we sat down, “Yep and even better news, you owe me 20 bucks Sanders!”

Thomas groaned shooting me a grumpy look, “You just had to tell her first huh?”

I simply smiled, “Still find it a bit ridiculous that you two were childish enough to bet on me.”

Logan tilted his head as Thomas handed Harmony two tens, “You two had a bet? About Anxiety?”

Harmony giggled, “Thomas bet Anx would tell him or one of you guys his name before me and I just found out Anxiety has the cutest name ever!”

I shot her a deadpan look, “You’re really going to keep up with the cute thing?” She nodded slowly with an innocent smile. I grumbled before leaning down to peck her lips, “You’re lucky I love you.”

Patton was staring at me with wide eyes, “So are you gonna tell us?”

I smirked, “Maybe.”

Harmony laughed and lightly smacked my arm, “Come on. Just tell them. Patton has been theorizing on it forever now.”

I rolled my eyes but smiled, “Virgil.”

Logan scrunched his nose up a little, “Vir-gil?”

Roman snickered lightly as Patton tilted his head like a confused puppy, “Awe, but that doesn’t end with an -an or an -on.”

Harmony smiled at him, “Told you it wouldn’t.”

Thomas smiled a bit, “I honestly don’t know how I’m going to call you Virgil. It’s a bit… different from your style.”

I shrugged, “You could just call me Virge.”

Harmony laughed, “Okay, I’m sorry but I am never calling you that. I can’t take it seriously.”

I smiled slightly wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her to my side, “That’s cool with me.” I leaned down to her ear, “You saying my actual name is sweeter anyway.”

A satisfied smirk stretched across my lips as she shivered lightly. I pulled back to look at her slightly blushing face, loving the cute, shy smile that crossed her face when she caught my eyes. Harmony was a special type of person. One moment she could be acting shy and the next she’ll be reading smut to you. She would help any person in need but would never ask for help herself. While everyone saw how beautiful and caring she was, she only saw her flaws and failures. 

But I was determined to help her see the good in herself, even if I had to spend the rest of my life doing it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to post two chapters together instead of one. Also I thought I should warn that I have now run out of prewritten chapters so posts may be a bit inconsistent from now on.


	16. Taking the steps

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harmony has her first group therapy session.

I was practically chewing my lip raw as we drove to the clinic where my group therapy was being held. Usually I didn’t get anxious over meeting new people but something about this made me nervous.

I jumped when Virgil grabbed my hand. I looked over to see him frowning at me. I then realized we had pulled into a parking spot.

“You okay?”

I tried to give him a reassuring smile but it was more shaky than anything, “I’m just nervous. This is the first time I’ve ever been to therapy.”

He smiled pulling my hand up to press his lips to the back of it, “You’ll be fine. Everyone in this group has been through some type of abuse. They’ll understand if you’re nervous.”

I smiled at him, “Thank you. Your support means a lot.”

He smiled back, “Come on. I’ll walk you inside.”

We got out and he grabbed my hand again gently guiding me into the building. We walked up to the front desk where the secretary smiled at us.

“Hello, how may I help you?” He asked kindly.

I smiled, “I’m here for the domestic abuse victims group therapy.”

He typed something into his computer, “The 2 o'clock to 3 o’clock session?” I nodded. “And your name is?”

“Harmony Daniels.”

He typed in some more stuff before smiling at me, “You’ll be in room 213. It’s just down the hall, third door on the left.”

I nodded, “Thank you.”

We walked back until we reached an open door with 213 on a plaque beside it. I glanced around inside seeing there was six people including the therapist. There was a woman with a scar over her lip in a pretty pink and baby blue sun dress talking with another woman who looked to be in her mid thirties with short, bright green hair and a nose stud. There was a male teen who was sitting on one of the chairs looking around nervously and playing with his sleeves. There was an older man with a bald head talking to the last girl who seemed to be around my age. She had brown hair with a blue streak in it.

I turned back to Virgil with a small smile, “Pick me up at 3?”

He nodded, “Of course. Have fun okay?” I nodded back and he leaned down to give me a kiss, “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

He kissed my forehead one last time before walking back down the hall. I bit my lip before entering the room. 

The therapist smiled, “You must be our other new member. Harmony, right?”

I nodded with a smile shaking her hand politely, “That would be me. Nice to meet you.”

“I’m Jane.” She then cleared her throat gaining everyone’s attention, “Alright, since everyone is here, why don’t we get started?”

We all sat down in the circle of chairs. I was sat in between the teenager and the brunette girl with the blue streak in her hair. 

“Why don’t we go around and introduce ourselves for our new members? Say your name and something about you. I’ll go first. I’m Jane and I love knitting.”

The woman with the scar smiled speaking next, “I’m Ivy and I recently got engaged to the man of my dreams.”

I smiled, “Congrats.”

She giggled, “Thank you.”

The older man spoke next, “I’m Trevor and I have two lovely daughters.”

The green haired woman was next, “I’m Delilah and I hate the Plain White T’s.”

I giggled a bit which caused her to shoot me a smirk. 

Next was the brunette girl, “I’m Carmen and I love to paint.”

I was next in line so I smiled politely, “I’m Harmony and I just passed 1 million subscribers on youtube.”

The teenaged boy next to me shifted nervously before speaking quietly, “I’m Evan and I uh… like playing guitar.”

Jane smiled bringing everyone’s attention back to her, “Alright. Why don’t we say how long we’ve been away from our abuser? You may ask questions to each other but you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”

Ivy smiled, “I’ve been away from him for almost 3 years now.”

Trevor went next, “I left my alcoholic wife a year ago.”

Delilah chuckled, “I got away from my boyfriend 6 months ago.”

Carmen bit her lip, “I got away from her almost 4 months ago.”

I hesitated, “I’ve been away from my ex for about 2 years.”

Ivy tilted her head, “And you’re just now going to therapy?”

I bit my lip, “Yea, I recently had a moment where I saw my current boyfriend as my ex. I decided I should stop living in the past and get help.”

Delilah smiled, “Better late than never right?”

I shot her a quick smile back before Evan spoke hesitantly, “I-I just got away from my ex boyfriend about two weeks ago.”

I frowned a bit at the thought of such a young boy being put through an abusive relationship but focused back on Jane as she spoke, “Would anyone like to share their stories with our new members?”

Ivy nodded before smiling towards me and Evan, “I was in an abusive relationship for about 4 years. I met Sam in my second year of college. I thought he was cute and we went on a few dates before we made it official. It didn’t go sour until we moved in together. Then he began to try to control me more. He started with simple stuff like he didn’t like what I was wearing but it escalated until I had to get permission to wear a certain shade of eyeshadow. It didn’t turn physical until I tried to rebel more and take charge. He would hit me around when I ‘disrespected’ him. One night he took things further and cut me. The neighbors heard me screaming and called the police. He was arrested for domestic abuse and assault with a deadly weapon. I haven’t seen him since.”

Carmen smiled at us, “My ex girlfriend Anna was emotionally abusive. She would always tear down my confidence and try to scare people away from me. I almost lost all my friend until my bestfriend Jared convinced me to leave her. That was 4 months ago and I’ve never been happier.”

Jane smiled at us reassuringly, “We like to share our stories every so often. Mostly when we get new members or something new happens with our lives that we’re proud of. Is there anything you two have done recently that made you proud?”

Evan kept quiet so I spoke up with a happy grin, “I stood up to my ex when he tried to play me into falling back with him. If he sees me in public, he likes to talk to me and try to remind me of things I had done in our relationship to try and get me to fall into his game again. He recently tried this when I was out shopping with my friend Mark. He asked me if my current boyfriend, Virgil, meant as much to me as he did and I gladly told him he meant everything to me, more than he ever did.”

Delilah chuckled, “Nice! I did something similar to my ex Damion. He does the same thing except he just likes to remind me that he got my parents off my back about my bisexuality. I was with my girlfriend, Ziana when he tried again so when he said my parents would’ve been more supportive if I was with him again, I kissed Ziana right in front of him and said I’d rather have my parents hate my relationship than have me hate my own relationship.”

Carmen giggled, “I recently was convinced to wear a dress in public again by Jared and I got so many compliments. It made me really happy to be able to show my legs in public again.”

Trevor chuckled, “I got to dance with my daughter Stacy at her school dance.”

I smiled, “Awe, that’s so sweet. How old are your daughters?”

“Stacy is 12 and Emily just turned 9.”

The rest of the session flew by. It was full of us talking about ways to deal with our triggers and funny stories about our lives after our abuse. 

“Alright, good session everyone! You can go ahead and talk for a bit before you all have to leave!”

Me and Carmen continued our conversation about good hair dye brands before I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned smiling at a nervous Evan.

“H-Hey um… I-I’m a really big fan of your channel and was wondering if you could sign this for me.”

“Of course!” I took the baseball hat and marker from his hands and signed it. I handed it back with a grin, “How long have you been watching?”

He smiled a bit, “Ever since I saw your Can Your Pet video. Your reaction was probably the best thing on youtube.”

I chuckled, “Yea it wasn’t really a typical reaction.”

He laughed, “Yea, you just watched Chico die and was like ‘welp, I guess I’m having fried chicken tonight’.”

Carmen chuckled behind me, “Seriously Harm? I thought everyone cried at that game.”

I rolled my eyes, “To be honest, I kind of was expecting it to go wrong somewhere. I play those types of games all the time.”

Evan smiled, “You should see her play Five Nights At Freddy’s. In her first video, she screamed so loud that her roommate came in and was like ‘Harmony, it’s literally 3 in the morning, go to bed’.”

I laughed, “Yea, Thomas was  **not** happy with me.”

Carmen giggled, “I wouldn’t be too happy either if Jared just started screaming at 3 am.”

“Oh and by the second vid, she just stopped jumping at the jumpscares. She would just get really mad at dying instead. When someone pointed it out in the comments, she was like ‘What did you expect, I’m watching them over and over for hours’.”

I chuckled, “It was a fair point! I’m literally sitting down to play for at least 2 hours each recording session and I’m obviously dying a lot so I get used to the jumpscares! Markiplier did it too! If you watch his first FNAF video versus the third one, you can see he just starts to get mad at the jumpscares instead of jumping.”

Evan hummed, “I guess that is true.”

My phone went off ushering me to pull it out and answer it, “Hello?”

“Do I have to come in to get you? I’ve seriously been sitting here for like five minutes,” Virgil’s slightly annoyed voice came through the line.

I giggled, “Sorry babe. I got caught up talking with some people. I’ll be out in a minute.”

He sighed, “Just hurry up. You still have a video to edit.”

“Gotcha! Bye!”

“Hurry up!” He hung up leaving me to stare at the phone in shock.

I chuckled turning back to the amused faces of Carmen and Evan, “Well, as you heard, my ride's here.”

Carmen giggled, “Let’s exchange numbers so we can keep in touch!”

We all swapped phones quickly adding our numbers and a contact picture. I waved one last time before walking out the door. I easily spotted Virgil leaning against my red jeep. I walked over and wrapped my arms around his neck. 

He smiled wrapping his arms around my waist in return, “Hey babe. How’d it go?”

I shrugged smiling, “It was surprisingly easy. I even met two new people, Carmen and Evan.”

Virgil smiled leaning down a bit so his nose brushed against mine, “Sounds like you had fun.”

I smiled going on my tiptoes to kiss him deeply. He kissed back instantly his hands gripping my waist tighter to pull me closer to him.

“Woo! Get it Harm!”

I pulled back turning my head to stick my tongue out at Carmen who was laughing with a guy around our age, “Don’t be jealous that I can get a hottie and you can’t!”

She scrunched up her nose, “I don’t swing that way hun! If I could take you on the other hand, now that’s a deal!”

Virgil’s grip on my waist got tighter as he pulled me impossibly closer. I shot him an amused look as Carmen and her male friend walked up to us.

“Virgil, this is Carmen, and I have no idea who her friend is.”

She giggled, “This is Jared. Jared, this is Harmony and, I’m assuming, her boyfriend Virgil.”

Jared shot me a small smile, “Nice to meet you.”

I smiled back managing to turn so Virgil’s arms were wrapped around my waist from behind, pulling me against his chest, “Nice to meet you too.”

“You have a cover to mix, you know?” Virgil’s voice reminded in my ear.

“Shoot! That’s right!” I gave another smile, “Sorry to cut this short but I gotta head home. I have a video to edit.”

Carmen chuckled, “No worries. We’ll see you some other time.”

“Bye!”

Virgil and I got into my jeep and began the drive back home. We talked about how my session went before I decided I had to tease him.

“So you’re jealous of Carmen now?”

He rolled his eyes, “I was just making sure they knew you were taken.”

“Virgil, I’m as straight as a ramp… If you don’t count bible camp.”

He stopped short for a moment before he shot me a narrowed eyed look, “Did… Did you just quote Bo Burnham?” I simply smiled back at him causing him to burst out laughing, “Your taste in music is something else. One minute you’re blasting the Heathers soundtrack, the next you’re playing Keith Urban.”

I smiled, “I like a little bit of everything. It just depends on the song.” My smile turned playful, “Plus, I’m not the one with Britney Spears on their Spotify playlist.”

He narrowed his eyes at me as he pulled into a parking spot in front of our apartments, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“ _ Mama, I’m in love with a criminal _ ~,” I sang teasingly before jumping out of the car and running inside. 

I heard him following me as I ran past the living room giving a wave to Patton and Roman as I rushed up the stairs. I managed to get into my room and just shut the door as Virgil banged a hand against it, “You can’t keep me out forever Harm!”

I giggled as I locked the door and stepped away, “I locked it~!”

I heard shuffling before a defeated groan. I turned to walk to my desk just as the door bust open behind me. I squealed as arms wrapped around my waist, lifting me up and spinning me in circles.

“I know where the key is~!” I heard Virgil say before he tossed me onto the bed. I bounced once before a body was over mine, trapping me to the bed. I bit my lip as Virgil hovered above me, holding my wrists over the crown of my head. “Would you like to try to tease me again, little miss ‘I sing too loud in the shower’?”

I smirked at him, “Is that a challenge I hear?”

He smirked back, “I doubt you could do much when you’re pinned down like this.”

Oh, now he was gonna get it.  

I slowly leaned my head up to be right next to his ear. I blew my breath across it making him shiver. I slowly kissed down his neck, hitting the spots I knew would make him weaken. I waited until I felt him relax, loosening his grip on my wrists, before I got my hands out and rolled us over in one quick motion. I pinned his wrists down next to his head as I straddled his waist.

I smirked at his shocked look, “I win.”

He narrowed his eyes, “You cheated.”

I chuckled evilly, “All’s fair in love and war.” I hummed leaning down to kiss him, lightly at first then heated the second time our lips touched.

I slowly let go of his wrists to run my hands down his chest. Then suddenly, I was on my back with my wrists pinned above my head again. I blinked up at a smirking Virgil. I opened my mouth to speak but he kissed me again effectively distracting me. His tongue made its way into my mouth to wrestle with mine. I turned my wrists, pulling lightly against his hold to try to get him to let go but he kept them pinned there. I gave up, becoming a little distracted as he kissed down to my neck. He hit that sensitive point again making my breath hitch. He smirked nibbling my skin lightly causing sparks to run down my spine. I clenched my fists and bit my tongue trying not to let out any noises, considering the door was still wide open and the others were just downstairs.

Apparently he took my silence as a challenge before he bit down on the skin of my neck causing my heart to jump in my chest. He gave it another gentle kiss before sucking on the skin lightly. I swallowed hard trying hard not to give into his teasing. He bit down firmly on the overly sensitive skin making a small noise escape my throat. I felt him smirk in victory before he pulled back to kiss me again. I felt his grip on my wrists finally loosen giving me the opportunity to flip us over again. 

I managed a smirk despite my heavy breathing, “My turn.”

I leaned down to kiss his cheek before slowly moving down his neck. The thing that made me a bit evil is the fact I was trying to find a spot where his hoodie wouldn’t cover. I quickly found a spot right below his ear that made him clench his fingers in the sheets. I bit down lightly at first before sucking on the skin, making sure to leave a huge mark. 

“Harmony!”

I reluctantly pulled away from Virgil licking my lips at the sight of his flushed, panting face, “Payback’s a bitch.”

With that I hopped off of him and walked out of the room calmly. As I got to the stairs, I heard him curse behind me, obviously noticing the mark. I got downstairs with a huge smile covering my face.

Thomas raised an eyebrow at me, “What’s got you smilin’?”

I giggled, “Oh nothing~. What did you need?”

He gave me a weird look handing me some mail, “You got stuff in the mail.”

Virgil stormed downstairs falling on the couch with a huff. His hood was up and tightened around his face. I smirked at him and he shot me a deadly glare.

Thomas raised an eyebrow but easily put it together, “Guys, come on. Do we have to set rules with this hickey stuff?”

I smiled innocently, “I’m just returning the favor for the very large mark I had to cover for a week. Plus he’s given me 2 hickies, I’ve only given him 1.”

Thomas sighed, “You two have the weirdest relationship.”

I giggled leaning down to kiss Virgil’s cheek, “I’m okay with that.”

It was true. No matter how out of th ordinary our relationship was, I enjoyed every second of it.


	17. What did I forget?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harmony forgets a very special day.

 

“You forgot your own birthday!?”

I blinked at Mark again, “It’s my birthday? That’s why you’re freaking out?”

He facepalmed, “You’re such an idiot sometimes.”

I pursed my lips at him, “Gee, thanks.”

He chuckled, “You know you are baby. Anyway, I’m taking you out shopping for an outfit and then to get your makeup and nails done.”

I raised an eyebrow scratching my head, a bit apprehensive about getting all dolled up, “I have to look for a new job. You know that right?”

He rolled his eyes, “You can do that later! Come on!”

He grabbed my wrist and forcefully pulled me from my room and down the stairs. I sighed but let him pull me out of the house and to his car. There was no use in fighting him, he’s even more stubborn than me when it comes to certain things. It was a pretty short drive filled with music and bad singing on Mark’s part. I was a little surprised when he pulled up to a pretty looking boutique and not just the mall. 

I gave him a half confused, half ‘what the hell’ look, “Why are we at a boutique? You know how expensive clothes are here right? I don’t have money-”

“I brought money. I’m paying,” He interrupted showing me his wallet.

I frowned at him, “I can’t-”

“You can and you will. Now get out.”

I groaned but got out of the car. He walked around and held the door open for me. I walked in hesitantly, looking around at all the cute dresses. Don’t get me wrong, they were all gorgeous but they were going to be expensive. Plus I don’t know the first thing about dresses.

An older woman walked up to us with a kind smile, “Hello, Can I help you with anything?”

“We’re looking for a dress for her birthday. We’re having a small get together so this is one of my gifts to her,” Mark spoke before I could getting a small look from me.

The lady smiled, “Well, what style are you going for?”

Mark just gave me a look like ‘it’s your choice’. I pulled my bottom lip into my mouth for moment, looking at all the different styles of dresses.

“Uh… Maybe a short dress?”

The lady chuckled warmly, “Not a dress person, are we?”

I smiled awkwardly, “Not really.”

She motioned for me to follow her before leading to a section of the store that had shorter dresses, “Why don’t we look at a few and try them on?”

I nodded telling her my size before beginning to shift through the racks of dresses. There were so many in so many different colors and styles. I picked up a simple yellow one with a white daisy pattern on it and an aqua blue on that had a darker band around the waist.

The lady handed me a pink dress and a lime green one, “Why don’t you try these on?”

I nodded following her to the dressing rooms and slipping inside the first one. I tried the green one first, slipping it on and zipping the zipper in the front up.

I went out hesitantly holding my hands out to my sides, “What’dya think?”

Mark raised an eyebrow, “You look like a piece of lettuce.”

I rolled my eyes at his blunt way of saying things before walking back and putting on the yellow one. Soon enough I had gone through all the dresses I had picked and was in the dressing room stressing myself out.

I sighed, “This is stupid. Maybe I should just go in my normal outfit.”

“Will you try on one last dress?”

I groaned, “Fine.”

He handed me a very pretty black and red dress. I slipped into it struggling for a moment before finally getting the back zipped. I turned side to side looking at myself in the floor length mirror. It was a sleeveless dress with a sweetheart neckline and a black leather belt around the middle. The skirt was pleated and ended at the middle of my thigh. It was colored black with grungy red roses patterned over it. I… actually looked good.

I hesitantly peeked out of the curtain, in time to see Mark’s expectant look, “Come out already. We still have to go to the salon.”

I hesitated for another moment before walking out. I did a small spin, turning back around in time to see Mark’s jaw drop. 

I bit my lip, nervously fixing the skirt, “D-Does it… look okay?”

Mark finally snapped out of his faze, “You look amazing baby.”

I smiled at him, “Thanks, I guess we should get going then.”

He nodded. I went back into the dressing room changing into my regular clothes before we paid and headed back to the car. We drove down a couple blocks and parked outside a nail and hair salon. He lead me inside, practically dragging my reluctant feet. He walked up to the counter where a brunette girl was chewing gum.

“Hey, we have an appointment for Harmony Daniels.”

She tapped something into her computer before nodding, “Come with me.”

She lead us back to a desk like area that had girls in a row getting their nails done. I sat down in the chair as she walked into the back area.

A dark skinned girl with spikey black hair came out, “Hey there! I’m Natalie. I’ll be doing your nails and makeup.”

I smiled, “I’m Harmony. It’s nice to meet you.”

She smiled back sitting across from me and grabbing my one hand, “Geez, you are really tough on your nails, hun.”

I shrugged slightly, “I do a lot of work that requires typing.”

She nodded, “I understand completely. My older sister works in a law firm and has to type all day long. She has to get hers done at least twice a month to keep them looking good.”

We chatted about her family and mine as she cleaned my nails up for painting. Mark was sat in a waiting chair playing on his phone and texting someone. 

Soon she smiled pulling out a small binder and flipping to the first page, “Alright! Let’s pick a design.”

I bit my lip, looking over all the different designs. I flipped the page before finding a cute but simple black design. I pointed to it and she nodded beginning her work again. She painted them easily which amazed me a bit since I couldn’t draw a straight line with a ruler. She dried them under a UV light before having me follow her to a different chair that was raised higher. 

“So what kind of look at we going for?” I shrugged helplessly and she chuckled, “Well, what are you wearing to your little party?”

“A red and black dress.”

She nodded humming, “I think I have the perfect look.”

She pulled a bunch of stuff before starting her work on my face. It was a little weird and I almost sneezed a couple times at all the dust flying around. She finished up by painting a deep red lipstick across my lips before pulling back and inspecting her work.

She smiled, “Done! You wanna change into your dress quickly and then you can see the final look?”

I nodded grabbing the shopping back from beside Mark, who didn’t even look up, and going into their bathroom. I changed quickly before coming out with a hesitant nature. It had been a long time since I got all dressed up like this.

She smiled widely pulling me over to their wide floor length mirror. My jaw dropped at my own reflection. Staring back at me was a blonde girl with burgundy streaks in her hair. Her grey eyes looked brighter than normal, enhanced by brown and reddish eyeshadow and winged eyeliner. Her lips, which were currently in an O shape, looked full and were colored a deep red shade. She had on a black dress with red grungy roses that hugged her curves and complimented her long legs.

In short, I looked amazing.

I resisted the urge to bit my lip and walked over to where Mark was sitting, “I’m done.”

He looked up and for the second time today his jaw dropped, “You’re hot enough to turn my gay ass.”

I laughed punching his shoulder lightly, “Shut up. You ready to go?”

He nodded standing up. He paid and we headed to the car. We drove slower than Mark’s usual speed, but eventually arrived a big park. We got out and Mark quickly put something over my eyes.

“Mark!” I exclaimed immediately trying to take it off, “What the hell?!”

He chuckled, “It’s a surprise! Just trust me!”

“Last time I trusted you I got my hair dyed orange!”

He laughed again, “Well I’m not dying your hair am I?”

I grumbled but let him grab my hands and lead me wherever we were going. I could feel the path beneath my feet that was just slightly uneven.

“Step up.”

I blindly stepped up onto more even ground. I could hear murmurs before the blindfold was taken off. 

“Surprise!” Everyone exclaimed.

I smiled slightly looking at the fairy light that decorated the large gazebo. There was a pop up table with a cake and Arby’s on it. My friends knew me so well.

Patton and Thomas both practically tackled me in a hug, “Happy birthday!”

I laughed almost falling over, “Okay! Guys, I love you too but if you mess up this dress I’m going to hurt you!”

They pulled back to smile at me. Logan came over and gave me a slightly awkward hug which I appreciated since he didn’t care for feelsy stuff. Carmen and Evan both gave me a hug and Roman kissed my forehead in a friendly way which Virgil shot him a glare for. 

Speaking of Virgil, I looked over at him and realized he seemed to be in shock at my appearance. I guess he’s never seen me all dressed up. I walked over with my hand clasped behind my back. 

“Hey…” I said shyly, unsure of if his shock was positive or not.

He smiled wrapping his arms around my waist and kissing my forehead sweetly, “You look stunning.”

I smiled teasingly, “Yea, you sure seemed stunned alright.”

He chuckled kissing my lips quickly before we turned to everyone else.

I smiled, “So what’s first?”

Thomas and Mark smirked knowingly but Roman beat them to the punch, “We can all see you eyeing those curly fries Harm.”

I scrunched my nose up at him with a playful smile, “I’m allowed to be hungry.”

We began to eat and maybe throw fries at one another a bit. To be fair, Mark started it when he threw a fry at Roman and I got revenge for him. We ate cake next which I had to laugh at because the cake said ‘You’re a year closer to death’ on it in red icing. I knew Thomas was behind it cause that’s what I’d always say on my birthday when I blew out the candles. Then  finally we all sat down on the pop up chairs and it was present time.

Evan handed me a small box, “Me and Carmen got this as a joint gift.”

I opened it and my eyes widened as I pulled black necklace. It was made of different beads and, funnily enough, matched my dress perfectly.

I clipped it out my neck after a couple tries and smiled at both of them, “Thank you guys so much!”

Roman handed me a a flat box, “I saw it and immediately thought of you.”

I raised an eyebrow before opening the box and lifting the grey shirt out. I laughed as I read the word ‘Adult-ish’ on the front.

“I like it. It does suit me.”

Patton giggled as I set the box aside, “Our turn!” He handed me another flat box. 

I opened it to reveal a scrap book. I opened it and flipped through the pictures. There was pictures from when they first got here and we were showing them around. Then there was pictures from when me and Virgil had a video game war and I ended up throwing pillows at him until he surrendered. I smiled widely at the last picture, our little group photo with Thomas, the sides, and I.

I smiled at Patton and Logan, “I love it guys. Thank you.”

Thomas chuckled, “Guess it’s my turn.” He handed me a decent sized box. 

I opened the lid to reveal a microphone box. I smiled widely as I read which microphone it was.

“Oh my god! This has been on my wishlist for months! Thanks Thomas!”

Virgil chuckled, “Last gift, hope you like it.” 

He picked up a big box that has holes in the side for some reason. He set it down on the floor in front of me. I tilted my head at him a little confused. Then a small sound came from the box. 

My eyes widened at Virgil who was smiling, “No way…”

He raised his eyebrows at me, “Well, open it.”

I hesitated for a split second before pulling the lid off. An adorable puppy with white, black, and brown fur and bright blue eyes tilted its head at me. I about melted as I picked it up gently. There were small tears fighting in my eyes as the puppy squirmed to lick my face.

“You’ll be happy to know I didn’t get her from a breeder,” Virgil spoke making me look at him, “Her mom was a stray who was pregnant when she was found. Her mom’s an Australian Shepherd and her dad’s probably a Husky as you can tell by the blue eyes.”

I gave a wobbly smile as I held the beautiful girl to my chest, “This has got to be the best gift ever.” I looked down at the puppy who tilted her head at me again, “Oh my god, you are so precious.”

Virgil chuckled, “Her name’s Clef.”

I stood up quickly and walked over so I could kiss him quickly, “Thank you. I love her so much already.”

Clef let out a small yip as she squirmed in my grasp to be able to reach Virgil’s face. We all laughed as she slobbered him in kisses, to which he scrunched his nose up but didn’t complain. 

You know, this might just be the best birthday yet.


	18. Purple hair and job interviews

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harmony wakes up to a surprise.

You know when you see those cheesy romantic films where the boyfriend comes in and wakes the girl up with breakfast in bed and sweet kisses… Yea that doesn’t happen here.

I woke up to my very loving and sweet boyfriend shouting at Thomas downstairs.

“What the hell is this!?”

“I told you I was doing it!”

“I didn’t know that meant the rest of us were doing it as well!”

I groaned getting up and throwing my door open, “I swear to Satan, if you guys don’t shut the fuck up, he’s going to have five lookalikes joining him in hell!”

It was silent for a solid 5 minutes, giving me enough time to brush through my tangled hair and put one of Virgil’s hoodies over my spaghetti strap top. I stormed downstairs, with Clef following me closely, and glared for a moment before realizing why Virgil was so upset.

Thomas had decided to dye his hair purple today… and apparently it carried over to the sides. I let out a snicker and slapped a hand over my mouth when I saw Virgil’s deathly glare.

Thomas rolled his eyes, “Could you and Patton please explain to your boyfriends that I didn’t  **know** it would carry over to them?”

Patton giggled still hugging Logan who was glaring at Thomas, “Babe it’s fine. It’s just colored hair.”

“I look like a hairy grape!”

I chuckled as they began to bicker back and forth. I picked up Clef and walked over to Virgil. I held Clef up to his face where she kissed his nose making a small smile grow on his lips.

I smiled pulling her to my chest and leaning up to kiss his lips quickly, “Stop being so dramatic. It’s just purple hair. You look good with it.”

He sighed wrapping his arms around my waist, “Everyone’s going to stare at me if I go out.”

“It won’t be that bad. People will think it’s cool.”

He gave me a sarcastic smile, “Yea, and then there’s the people who will wonder if I’m worshipping Barney.”

I giggled smiling at him, “You think too much. No one will care.” I pulled out of his arms to set Clef back on the ground, “What time is it anyway?”

“9:45.”

I froze before cursing loudly and rushing back upstairs. I ran back to my room and began sifting through my closet to try and find an appropriate outfit. 

“Harm? You okay?” I heard Patton ask from my doorway as everyone came into my room. 

I chuckled nervously as I found a plain grey sweater, “I uh… have a place to be at 10.”

Roman raised an eyebrow at me, “What could be so important that you freak out at the thought of being late?”

Thomas nodded in agreement, “I’m confused about that too. Is everything okay Harm?”

“Everything’s fine!” I said picking out a pair of clean, non ripped black jeans. “It’s just really important to me.”

Virgil gave me a worried frown coming over to grab my hands and stop my rushing around, “Seriously, what’s going on Harm?”

I bit my lip hesitating before sighing in defeat, “I… I may have gotten fired from my secretary job.”

Logan frowned, “How? You’re always a respectful employee.”

I bit the inside of my cheek gripping Virgil’s hands, “I kinda, sorta… maybe shouted at my boss.”

Logan’s eyebrows raised in shock, “Why?”

“I… I caught her making out with her accountant and she tried to bribe me into not telling her husband. I got mad and shouted at her for being unfaithful. Her husband, who heard the shouting, walked in and they got into an argument. She fired me the next day for ‘misconduct’.”

Logan blinked at me, “That’s… bad.”

I chuckled, “It’s fine. But now I don’t have a job other than my performances at Ronny’s which only gets me tips. I managed to get an interview at a local animal shelter just outside of town and need to be there by 10.” I smiled at them awkwardly, “I didn’t tell anyone because I… was kind of embarrassed. The only one who knew was Mark and that’s because he lent my money to pay my part of the rent.”

Thomas frowned coming over to hug me tightly, “I’m so sorry Harm. You could have just said something. I wouldn’t have minded paying your part of the rent.”

I smiled up at him as he pulled back, “You know me, Thomas. I don’t like relying on other people.” I glanced at the clock and cursed, “I seriously have to get dressed in like 2 minutes!” 

I rushed to the bathroom quickly changing into the outfit after spraying on some deodorant. I brushed through my long hair and pulled it back into a braid. I speed walked back to my room to get my bag ready before pulling on my grey toms. I jogged downstairs where Virgil met me.

He smiled, “You look great. Would you mind if I drove you?”

I smiled back going on my tiptoes to peck his lips, “I’d love that. Thank you Virgil.”

We headed out to the car and began our drive, after turning on google maps.

“You must really want this job.”

I turned to look at him, “Well, yea. I get to help animals in need.”

“Could I ask you something without you getting defensive?” I furrowed my brows in confusion but nodded. “Why don’t you go back to college?”

I bit the inside of my cheek looking down at my lap. Now I could see why he asked me not to get defensive. The last time my education was mentioned, I nearly took Logan’s head off for questioning my choice to drop out of college. I just didn’t like talking about all that stuff. I knew Virgil wouldn’t judge me for any reason but that didn’t stop my brain from running wild.

I sighed in defeat after debating with myself for a minute, “It’s just… Wouldn’t it be weird for a 28 year old to go back to college? I mean all the people there would be 25 at max. Plus paying for it and actually studying, something I haven’t done in years and was never good at. And I have two jobs to worry about!”

He glanced at me, “I’m sure you could find a college for a reasonable price. And you could take night classes. They usually go from 5 to 9 so it wouldn’t interfere with your jobs and there’d be less younger people there. Or you could do online courses. Plus, you might even be able to get a higher paying job at this shelter. You could be a vet tech in two years, maybe less if you work hard enough.” He reached his hand over and grabbed mine tightly, “I just don’t want you to count yourself out of getting a good job just because you’re a little older. I’m sure whatever reason you had for dropping out was a valid one but that doesn’t mean you should give up completely on having a good career.”

I smiled a bit running my thumb across the back of his hand, “Do you… really think I could pull it off? I mean it’d be so much time and effort I’d have to put into it.”

He pulled into a parking spot and turn to smile at me, “I think you can do anything you set your mind to. We’ll all be here to help you. Say the word and I’m sure Logan can help you study. Need help on an essay? Roman is literally creativity itself. I’m sure Patton wouldn’t mind making sure you keep on top of your health along with your jobs and school. Thomas and Mark are always there for stress relief. And I’ll be here to support you in any way I can.” He kissed the back of my hand, “You’re capable of great things. If you truly want to go back to school, then we’ll make it happen.”

I smiled at him gratefully, “You really are uncharacteristically sweet at times.”

He leaned over to kiss me quickly, “I told you from the start, I’m going to try to be the guy you deserve to have.”

I put my hand on his cheek and pulled his lips back to mine before pulling away to smile at him, “I got to get in there. I’ll text you when I need picked up.”

He smiled, “I’m going to hang around the area so it won’t be too long of a wait.”

I got out of the car and jogged up to the door. I turned back and gave a small wave before heading inside. I looked around the small, simple lobby type room before walking up to the desk.

The younger girl there looked up with a smile, “Hey there!” She had an adorable southern accent.

I smiled, “Hi! I’m Harmony. I have an interview with Dylan.”

She smiled, “Oh yea! He mentioned he was looking to hire a new person! Go ahead and take a seat. I’ll go get him.”

She turned and went into the back area. I went and sat in one of the simple green chairs. I nervously played with the end of my braid while I waited. This place had a cute, homey feel to it. The kind of feeling my childhood home lacked.

An older male with greying brown hair walked out with a kind smile, “Harmony?”

“That would be me,” I said standing up and shaking his hand, “You must be Dylan.”

He nodded, “It’s great to meet you in person. I’ve heard so many good things from Ronny.”

I chuckled, “Ronny just has a thing for my hair.”

He laughed lightly, “Yea, he did mention that. Why don’t you come on back and we’ll start the interview?”

I nodded following him into the back. He lead me down a hallway and into a small office. I sat down in the plush chair across from him.

He smiled, “Let’s get started.”

+_+_+_+_+_+

I hopped in the car and immediately grabbed Virgil’s face pulling him into a very long kiss. I pulled back my huge smile taking place again. He blinked for a moment seeming a little dazed.

He finally smiled back gaining his train of thought again, “I take that as a sign it went well.”

I giggled happily still holding onto his cheeks, “It went super well! Ronny apparently told him how much I volunteer and how hard of a worker I am so he immediately took a liking to me! And he only asked me like three questions about my secretary job! We talked about wages and he offered me 15 dollars an hour! That’s nearly double what I got as a secretary!”

Virgil chuckled in amusement grabbing my hands and pulling them from his face, “That’s great babe.”

I giggled again as he began to drive back home, “I even got to meet the shelter mascot! He’s a great dane who’s all black and he’s so cute! His name’s Buster!”

Virgil was smiling amusedly, “You are really excited. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you like this.”

I chuckled trying to calm down a bit, “Of course I am! This is like my dream job! I’ve always wanted to work with animals in some way.” I smiled reminiscently, “I was going to be a vet when I was going to school.”

“Really? I didn’t know that. All Thomas told us was that you dropped out in the middle of the first year.”

It was silent for a bit. I debated on if it was worth mentioning before deciding I should at least tell Virgil. It also opens up the door to that… other topic.

“I had to drop out because of my parents.”

I felt him glance at me, “What do you mean?”

I sighed, “I was 18. Meaning Caleb was 15, Kayla was 11, Stevie was 10, and the twins were 5. I was the one taking care of my siblings 85 percent of the time. I realized very quickly that I wasn’t able to balance school and making sure they were okay. So I dropped out and got a job as a waitress. I stayed like that until I was 24. Then… I met Taylor at a bar. And he showed me what it was like to not care about responsibility and just have fun. I-I guess I was so desperate to be something other than the older sister that I just let him take away every ounce of confidence I had. Caleb had already gotten halfway through college and was already married. And Kayla had a job and the ability to take care of Stevie and the twins. So I jumped at the chance to be something more than the surrogate mother.”

Virgil was silent for a bit trying to think of what to say before sighing, “I wish your parents would see how much work you did for them. All they see is what you failed to do because you were too busy filling the role they left unattended.”

I bit my lip before speaking hesitantly, “Um… How… How would you feel about having dinner with my parents?’

It was dead silent. I risked a glance at him to see he was staring blankly ahead of him. 

“Caleb and Kayla told my parents that I found a new boyfriend and Kayla recently starting seeing a guy s-so they wanted to meet both you and Kayla’s boyfriend, Jace,” I tried to explain hoping to ease some of the tension in the air.

“Are you going to expect me to be polite to the people who ruined your childhood?”

I groaned burying my face in my palms, “This is why I’ve been avoiding this! I knew you were going to be all angry at them!” I fell back against the seat with a sigh, “Guess they’ll just think I’m a liar again.”

“...What?”

I froze for a second not moving my hands from my face, “Nothing.”

“No, tell me.” I stayed silent. “Please?”

I sighed letting my hands drop, “I had a couple flighty relationships in high school. So when my parents asked about my relationship they’d always call me a liar if I said I had a boyfriend because one week I’d be seeing someone and the next I’d be single.”

I could see his demeanor soften slightly as he pulled into a parking spot in front of our apartments, “Does it mean that much to you that I meet them?”

“If you don’t want to, I’m not going to force you.”

“That’s not what I asked. How much does it mean to you that I meet them?”

I sighed, “It… It means alot to me actually. Kayla’s never had a boyfriend that stuck around long enough to meet our parents. She’s already really stressed out about it, that’s why she said something about me having a boyfriend. So I’m probably going to go no matter what. I honestly wasn’t going to mention it and just go alone but… I-I don’t like being alone there with only my younger siblings to defend me from my parents criticisms. But if you truly don’t want to go, I’m not going to force you to. I-I can just go alone.”

He sighed turning to face me and putting hand to my cheek, guiding me to look at him, “If it really means that much to you that I go, then I can suck it up for one night and play nice.”

I smiled kissing him quickly, “Thank you. It really does mean alot to me.” 

He smirked, “Then I expect a real kiss.”

I was fully prepared to do our usual playful routine and run away from him but he grabbed the back of my neck and pulled my lips to his before I could even think about running. I easily lost myself in the kiss, my own hands come to play with his purple hair. Someone could probably pickpocket me right now and I wouldn’t notice a thing, that’s how distracted I am by him. For some reason, Virgil seemed to be really into this kiss, more so than usual. I felt his teeth pull at my bottom lip, asking for an entrance. I let him in easily scooting closer to him. Apparently he got fed up with the space between us, cause he grabbed my waist and pulled me onto his lap. The steering wheel was pressing into my back but that quickly become less interesting than his hands moving up my sweater to grip my hips. I let out a small noise from the back of my throat pulling lightly on his hair. He hummed against my lips, his hands inching up higher on my torso and pulling my sweater up. 

A loud car horn made us jump apart. I quickly leaned up and stopped the loud noise coming from my jeep. We both panted for air, his hands still resting just below the band of my bra and my hands still tangled in his hair. Part of me wanted to just continue where we left off but I knew the others would want to know how my interview went. 

I bit my lip glancing down at his lips again, “We should head inside.”

He hummed leaning closer to me, “I think we could spare another minute or two.”

I tried to find it in me to pull away and say no but his lip were all too tempting. I kissed him again, immediately letting him into my mouth. I couldn’t help myself around him, something about him just drove me crazy. 

We spent another five minutes in the car before we finally said we should stop. We headed inside where Roman immediately grabbed my hand and pulling me into the kitchen.

I raised an eyebrow at him, “Something wrong Roman?”

He smiled nervously, “Uh, h-how was your interview?” I simply gave him an unimpressed look. “Okay, I… I think I have a crush on Mark.”

I blinked at him before smirking, “You realized it at the party didn’t you? You were being extra friendly to him.”

He chuckled awkwardly, “Yea… H-He is really cute.”

I tilted my head, “I thought you’d be into shorter guys for some reason. Mark is like 6’1.”

Roman rolled his eyes, “I don’t care about his height Harmony. He’s just such a fun person, plus he can be super creative at the most simple things.”

I smiled, “As long as you treat him good, then I don’t care. Here’s a small hint, Mark is a hopeless romantic. So he’d enjoy a  **realistic** romantic gesture.”

“Harm! Come tell us about your interview!” 

I chuckled walking the living room where everyone was sitting, “Hey!”

Thomas smiled, “How’d it go?”

I smiled widely, “I’m offically an animal care technician at Golden Paw Kennels.”

Everyone cheered and Patton rushed over to hug me and pick me up, spinning me in circles, “I’m so proud of you kiddo!”

I laughed loudly squirming in his grip, “Pat! Put me down!”

He chuckled finally setting me on the ground. I stumbled for a moment a little dizzy from all the spinning.

I huffed, “I hate that everyone can pick me up. It’s such bull.”

“You are like 5’2, so it isn’t that hard.”

I shot Thomas a deadly look, “Are you calling me short?”

His eyes widened, “No, no, no! I-I just meant you’re uh… cute?” He tried to backpedal quickly.

I narrowed my eyes, “Call me short again and I will start planning your murder.”

He nodded quickly before Virgil came over to wrap his arms around my waist, “You are pretty short compared to us.”

I huffed again, “I’m not short, I’m freaking fun sized.”

He simply kissed my cheek again before we began talking about how the interview went and other things. 

Again, living with all boys, especially carbon copies of each other, is so annoying.


	19. Bad night gone good.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harmony takes Virgil to meet her parents.

  Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlFqz7NnoX4

 

I nervously fixed my dress in the mirror biting my lip, “Are you sure it looks okay Thomas?”

I turned in time to see him roll his eyes, “You look amazing Harm.” He frowned in worry, “Are you sure you want to go tonight? We both know how your parents can be.”

I smiled sadly, “I have to. I don’t want to leave Kayla alone tonight. She really likes Jace and I’d feel terrible if my parents scared him off.”

He sighed coming over to hug me, “Just don’t take anything they say to heart. I don’t want you having another depressed day just because they pick at you.”

I smiled up at him, “I’ll be fine. I’m honestly used to them. I’m just worried they’ll start picking at Virgil.”

“I’m tough, I can handle a bit of picking.”

I turned to smiled at Virgil, who was dressed in a black dress shirt and brown dress pants, “You know what I meant.” I walked over to wrap my arms around his waist, “You look good.”

He leaned down to kiss me quickly, “You look even better.”

I rolled my eyes but smiled, “You’re so corny.”

He chuckled, “We better get going.”

I nodded letting him grab my hand and pull me downstairs and to my car. We started our drive in silence, the only sounds being the radio and my humming. We pulled up to my parents’ house which is where my nerves decided to kick in.

Virgil grabbed my hand making me look over at him. He frowned in worry, “Are you sure you want to do this?”

I took in a deep breath and nodded, “I have to. I can't just cancel.” I smiled weakly, “I've made it this far haven't I?”

He smiled kissing the back of my hand, “I'll be here the whole time.”

We got out and headed into the house. Kayla spotted us first and came over to give me a hug.

She pulled back with a wide smile, “Thank you so muck for coming.”

I smiled back not letting go of Virgil’s hand, “I promised I would.” I looked over her red tutu dress with a smile, “You look great by the way.”

She giggled, “Could say the same to you. You even curled your hair.”

I chuckled, “Thought I'd make an effort to look presentable.”

Caleb walked up with Christine, “Hey Hope! I’m glad you decided to come.”

I smiled hugging him quickly, “I wouldn’t miss the chance to interrogate my younger sister’s boyfriend!”

Kayla smacked my arm, “Don’t you dare Hope!”

Unfortunately my mom finally noticed me and came over, “Look who decided to show up!”

I squeezed Virgil’s hand giving my mom a fake smile, “Yea, sorry that we’re a bit late.”

She smiled brightly, “Oh that’s fine! I expected you to be late anyway.” I felt Virgil squeeze my hand back in reassurance. She chuckled, “Anyway, I’d love to meet the man who’s managed to put up with you for so long!”

Virgil smiled fakely shaking her hand, “I’m Virgil. It’s a pleasure to meet you Mrs Daniels.”

She giggled, “Such a gentleman. How’d you get him to settle for you Hope?”

I could sense the annoyance coming from Virgil and was worried he might say something bad. Luckily Stevie came over and told my mom that the chicken was done causing her to rush off to get it.

I smiled giving my younger brother a hug, “Thank you.”

He smiled as I pulled back, “No problem Hope.”

I chuckled, “So how’s college Stevie?”

He groaned, “So much bull! It’s so difficult to remember all the stuff they teach!”

“I told you, you should have gone with something easier than a computer scientist.”

He sighed, “I made my bed, I’ll lay in it.” He smiled, “Anyway, how’s life been for you?”

“I recently got a job as an animal care technician at Golden Paw Kennels.”

“That’s great! I was worried you’d keep that secretary job forever.”

I chuckled, “Yea I’m glad I got out of that.”

“Dinner’s done! Come and sit!” My dad called causing us to pile into the dining room.

I sat in between Virgil and Leon. We began getting plates and everything seemed to be going okay. That was until my dad decided to pick at me.

“So I heard you got fired from your job?” I hesitantly nodded and he smirked, “What’d you do? Get caught fucking the janitor?”

I quickly grabbed Virgil’s hand shooting him a look that screamed ‘don’t’ before giving a fake smile to my dad, “No, I got fired for outing my boss to her husband for cheating.”

My dad frowned, “That really isn’t your business to be getting into.”

Caleb spoke up directing attention off of me for a moment, “I’m sure Hope had her reasons. But it worked out, she’s got a higher paying job as an animal care technician at that shelter outside of town.”

My mom smiled, “Really now? I mean that’s nothing compared to a doctor but still nice! But then again, you did drop out of college not even halfway through your first year so it must be hard to get a job at all.”

“Actually,” Virgil spoke up causing me to give him a look, “Hope’s actually saving up to go back to college.”

I was shocked for two reasons. One, Virgil had never called me by my real name and, as much as I thought I’d be annoyed by it, I didn’t mind him calling me it. Two, I didn’t expect him to tell my family that I had made the decision to go back to college. I hadn’t even told the others yet.

My mom looked shocked to say the least, “Really? I never thought you’d go back to college.”

My dad chuckled, “I’m sure she’ll give up within a month of going back. She never was good at school.”

I again could sense Virgil’s annoyance but couldn’t stop him from speaking, “It’s not her fault she had too many other priorities with taking care of her siblings.”

My dad narrowed eyes, “What are you implying?”

“Nothing,” I cut in shooting Virgil a pleading look, “He meant nothing by it.”

My mom chuckled, “Now I can see why he settled for you, he has an attitude streak.”

I don’t know why, but for some reason hearing her make a snide comment like that about Virgil made something in me snap.

I gave her a very malicious smile, “Hey mom, did you know Stevie aced his mid-terms? He almost got every single question right, only missed one.”

My mom stopped short narrowing her eyes at me in suspicion, “No, I didn’t but that’s very nice.”

I chuckled darkly still smiling, “Oh, and did you know Caleb recently got an award for best surgeon in his ward?”

“N-No, that’s great.”

“How about Kayla getting a pay raise for all her hard work? Or about Noel having her painting featured in an art show? Everyone but you two showed up to it, so I’d imagine you had no idea.” I giggled, “But you must know about Leon’s big science fair coming up right?”

My mom and dad glanced at each other with uncomfortable expressions before my dad spoke, “N-No we weren’t aware…”

I let out a breathy chuckle smirking at them, “Exactly. You haven’t been involved in your children’s lives since Kayla was born. I bet you can’t even tell me what Kayla’s favorite food is.” I waited before smiling, “Oh, how about Noel’s favorite color? Or Stevie’s favorite song?” I let out another scoff of laughter, “I’ll give you an easy one. When’s my birthday?”

“I-Isn’t it on the 30th?”

I shook my head, “I’ll give you a hint, it was two weeks ago. But you wouldn’t know that since you don’t know the first thing about **any** of your children.”

My dad stood up to glare down at me, “I don’t appreciate what you’re implying.”

I stood up as well meeting his glare with an amused smirk, “I’m not implying anything. I’m just stating facts and fact is, you stopped giving a damn about your children when the third one came along. Why you continued to have more is beyond me but I know you haven’t done a damn thing to raise any one of them. I had to play mommy and older sister cause you two are too busy fighting about everything you can possibly find to disagree on.” I chuckled at his almost hurt expression, “You wonder why I started failing all my classes, when the reason is you. You were the ones who ruined my childhood and by extension my life. I’m just lucky that I’m pulling myself out of the hole you two left me to rot in.” I leaned back giving Virgil a small forced smile, “Let’s go.”

He frowned standing up and putting his arm around me to lead me out of the house. He waited till we were in the jeep before he turned to me and made me look at him.

He searched my eyes cautiously, “Are you okay?”

I bit my lip and nodded keeping silent. His thumb swiped a tear from my cheek, making me realize I was near the point of crying. I swallowed hard closing my eyes and trying to push away my tears.

I chuckled quietly, “Why am I even crying? I’ve been wanting to do that for years a-and now I just…”

Virgil kissed my cheeks, kissing away my tears, “You’re crying cause it hurts to be insulted by your own family. I’m sorry I couldn’t keep my mouth shut. They just made me so angry with the way they talked about you.”

I leaned in and kissed him lightly. He kissed back a little harsher than my softness. I pulled back slowly gazing into his familiar brown eyes.

I smiled sadly, “I’m not mad at you. I kind of expected something to go wrong tonight.” I sighed playing with my skirt, “I guess I got all dressed up for nothing.”

“What if… I make it up to you?” I tilted my head at him but nodded. He smiled, “Alright then, prepare for an amazing night.”

I smiled as he began to drive back in the direction of home. I was a little curious to see what he was thinking of but I decided to be patient. We pulled into a parking spot and got out. He grabbed my hand leading me in the opposite direction of our apartment. I was a little shocked when he pulled me down the path to the barn. It was dim out still but the fairy lights had turned on, they had a timer.

“Wanna jump from the loft with me?”

I gave him a shocked look, “Seriously? But you said before-”

“I’m offering now. Take it or leave it.”

I bit my lip before shaking my head with a small smile, “I know you. You’re going to cause yourself a panic attack as soon as we get up there.” He let out a breath of relief. I walked closer grabbing his one hand, “You could dance with me though. That would make my night.”

He blushed, “I-I don’t know how to dance.”

I smiled softly pulling him closer, “I’ll teach you. Please?”

He sighed in defeat before pulling out his phone. He searched through his songs before May I by Trading Yesterday began to play. He set it on the desk before coming to put his hands on my waist. I looped my arms around his neck loosely as we began swaying slowly with the music. I smiled softly as I laid my head in the crook of his neck. I could feel his breath hitch for a moment before relaxing.

“Hey Virge?” He hummed to let me know he was listening. “C-Could you say my name again? M-My real name…”

“Hope?” I nodded relaxing slightly in his grip. He chuckled leaning his head on top of mine, “I love you so much Hope.”

“I love you too Virgil.”

“I thought you didn’t like being called Hope.”

I bit my lip in hesitation, “I… I like it when you say it. I don’t know why. It… It makes me feel like the hope I was supposed to be.”

He kissed my hair smiling slightly against it, “You are my hope. You’re my everything.”

I lifted my head hesitating for another moment before leaning up to kiss him. He bent down slightly so I didn’t have to strain my neck too much. Our lips were soft at first but quickly became more rushed and heated. I let out a little noise from the back of my throat as he caressed my sides. Suddenly I was lifted up. I instinctively wrapped my legs around his waist and my hands gripped at his shoulders. He walked us back until I was set against the stack of mattresses. His hand went under my dress to brush against my thigh, eliciting a small whimper from me.

He pulled back suddenly breathing heavily, “We should stop.”

I shook my head kissing his jaw lightly, “I don’t want to…”

He groaned as I began to kiss his neck, “If we keep going, I won’t be able to stop.”

“Then don’t. I want this. Now,” I demanded quietly as I pulled back to give him a pleading look, “Please Virgil?”

He growled leaning down to capture my lips again. He slowly laid me down and climbed on top of me. He pulled back again giving me a concerned look, “Are you sure about this?”

I nodded instantly, “More than anything.”

He finally believed me and leaned down to kiss me again. I moaned softly before allowing myself to give into him. The rest of our night was filled with pants and little whispers of each other’s names. It was by far the best night of my life. It was so loving and he took things slow despite it not being my first time. We both gave everything to each other, our minds, souls, hearts, and bodies.

I was happy to be his, I was happily content to just spend the rest of my life with him. Virgil was the best thing that ever happened to me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My sister really wants me to write out the sex scene, so I'm gonna do that but I'll only post it if you guys are interested in reading it. Thanks for reading!


	20. +BONUS+

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Saucy scene :3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS IS TOTALLY OPTIONAL! It has no major impacts on the storyline aside from the fact that they had sex. Read at your own volition. Enjoy~!

I lifted my head hesitating for another moment before leaning up to kiss him. He bent down slightly so I didn’t have to strain my neck too much. Our lips were soft at first but quickly became more rushed and heated. I let out a little noise from the back of my throat as he caressed my sides. Suddenly I was lifted up. I instinctively wrapped my legs around his waist and my hands gripped at his shoulders. He walked us back until I was set against the stack of mattresses. His hand went under my dress to brush against my thigh, eliciting a small whimper from me.

He pulled back suddenly breathing heavily, “We should stop.”

I shook my head kissing his jaw lightly, “I don’t want to…”

He groaned as I began to kiss his neck, “If we keep going, I won’t be able to stop.”

“Then don’t. I want this. Now,” I demanded quietly as I pulled back to give him a pleading look, “Please Virgil?”

He growled leaning down to capture my lips again. He slowly laid me down and climbed on top of me. He pulled back again giving me a concerned look, “Are you sure about this?”

I nodded instantly, “More than anything.”

He leaned down to kiss me again invading my mouth as soon as I gave him the chance. I moaned against his lips as I ran my hands down his chest. Annoyed at the fabric in the way, I quickly undid the buttons of his shirt and untucked it from his pants. I gently pushed the shirt off his shoulders and he pulled it off the rest of the way. My hands quickly went to work exploring his chest and back. Even though Virgil did little to work out, he was still pretty toned. 

I felt the zipper on the back of my dress go down before Virgil pulled away with a hesitant look. I knew he was nervous to screw this up. We had never gotten much further than this and he  **was** the embodiment of Thomas’ anxiety. I smiled at him reassuringly before pulling my arms from the dress. I quickly shimmied out of it leaving me in a plain blue bra and boyshorts set. He hesitated still, unsure of what to do. I grabbed one of his hands and put it against my side.

I smiled up at him playfully, “It’s okay to touch me, you know.”

He chuckled nervously as his hand moved up and down my side, “I know, I’m just…”

“Nervous?” He nodded and I giggled wrapping my arms around his neck, “Don’t be. I trust you.”

“What if I don’t trust myself?”

“Then trust my judgement.”

He hesitated for another second before dipping down to kiss me again. I kissed back in an instant running my hands across his back. I could feel him relax under my touch. He seemed to gain some more confidence cause he unhooked my bra and moved it away on his own. I tossed it into the growing pile on the floor. His hand came up my side, stopping right next to my breast. His hand shakily moved to grab my breast. I let out a small moan at the long forgotten feeling. It had been a long time since I had done this with anyone.

I moved my hands down his back until I came in contact with his pants. This is where I hesitated. He pulled back to give me a reassuring smile. I allowed my hands to move around his waist and unbuckle his belt. I pushed them down a bit before he kicked them off the rest of the way. Our lips crashed into each other softly, taking our time. He pulled away from the kiss but didn’t leave my skin, moving down my jaw to my neck. He quickly and easily found that sensitive point that he just loves to leave marks on. I gripped his shoulder as he began to suck on my skin. I let out another low moan, starting to grow a little impatient at all the foreplay. 

I decided to try to speed things up a bit. I ran my hand down his chest before gently palming the bulge in his boxers. He tensed for a second letting out a small growl before he bit down on that sensitive point. My breath hitched slightly as he moved to be next to me ear.

“Don’t tease me Hope.”

I shivered at the low growl before smirking slightly, “Just returning the favor Virgil.”

Both of us had grown tired of waiting and got our bottoms off quickly. Virgil pushed into me slowly. I winced at the small sting of being stretched, again it had been a while. He stopped once he was fully inside me, kissing my neck in between his heavy breaths. I panted gripping at his back and shifting my hips, trying to tell him to move. He got the message pulling out of me slowly before pushing back in. I moaned quietly as he began at a slow pace. 

“Faster,” I panted out in a breathless demand.

He chuckled in my ear, “Say my name then.”

Normally I’d be a tease about this but I was way too impatient in this moment. 

“Virgil~,” I moaned out in a slightly exaggerated tone. 

He growled again speeding up his thrusting. More of my moans fell out into the open air as we both got a little lost in each other. This was different from all the other times I had sex. This is one I would geniunely call ‘making love’. 

I let out a small squeak as he hit that very sweet spot inside of me. He adjust his angle slightly until he was hitting that spot every time. I was getting closer and closer to that sweet release. 

“Ahn~, I-I’m so-” I was cut off by my own moan as he sped up even more.

“Me too,” He grunted biting into the flesh of my shoulder lightly. 

All too soon I felt myself get tipping over that edge. I moaned out his name as I came over him. He continued to hit that spot inside of me, dragging out my pleasurable high. He gave a grunt as he thrusted into me deeper than before and held it. I felt him fill me causing a small mewl from my lips. He pulled out of me slowly and flopped next to me. I rolled over to put my head on his chest. I could hear his erratic heartbeat as we panted and tried to catch our breaths. 

Slowly we caught our breaths and began thinking over what just happened. I drew patterns into his chest and he drew some into my hip in return. 

“Gotta admit, that was probably the best sex I’ve ever had,” I said earning a disbelieving scoff. I turned my head to smile at him, “It’s true. I’ve only ever done this like five times and four of those times were not enjoyable at all.”

He hummed searching my face, “Welp, it was the best for me.”

I scoffed, “It was the only for you.”

He smirked, “I meant cause it was with you, doofus.”

I blushed the tiniest bit and laughed, “I’m not that great Virgil. In fact some would argue that I’m a bad thing.”

He smiled leaning down to kiss me lightly. He pulled back to look at me sweetly, “I will gladly argue with every single one of those people until they agree. You are probably the best thing that could’ve happened to me.”

I smiled my blush worsening, “You act like you aren’t the best thing in my life. You’re my world Virgil. I don’t think I would’ve made it this far without you.”

He leaned down to kiss me again. I kissed back in an instant rolling on top of him. 

I smirked when we pulled back, “My turn.”


	21. The morning after

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harmony and Virgil make their way home after their night of romance.

I chuckled to myself as Harmony walked inside with a small limp. She shot me a drop dead glare as she headed to the living room.

“Where have you been!?” 

We both jumped looking over at Thomas as he glared at us. Roman was on the couch while Thomas was standing, making me believe he had been pacing back and forth.

Harmony smiled awkwardly, “W-We uh… stopped somewhere for the night.”

Thomas narrowed his eyes even more, “Where the hell could you have been all night!? And why!? You were supposed to be home as soon as you were done with your parents!”

Roman started laughing lightly and both me and Harm knew he had figured it out. Harmony blushed deeply shifting from foot to foot. I just smirked slightly earning another glare from her.

“I-I could really use a shower,” Harmony said turning to walk up the stairs.

“I am not done with you missy!”

“You can finish yelling at me later Thomas!”

Roman chuckled giving me a knowing smile, “Have fun?”

I smirked back, “Oh yea, tons. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a girlfriend to tease.”

I jogged up the stairs and went to Harmony’s room where she was finding clothes. I walked up behind her hugging my arms around her waist. She leaned into me for a second before continuing her search for clothes.

“Mind if I joined you in the shower?”

She let out a bark of laughter, “No way in hell! I am so freaking sore right now because of you!”

I smirked into her hair, “Not my fault you wanted to keep going.”

“I’m going to hit you if you don’t shut up,” She growled with red cheeks.

“I was content to stop at once, but someone-”

She turned and thumped my chest before ripping a random sweater and skinny jeans from her closet. She grabbed a bra and underwear before storming into the bathroom and locking the door.

I chuckled to myself shaking my head. I went to my room and changed into more casual clothes before I headed back downstairs and sat down on the couch next to Roman. I began to watch Zootopia with him while Harmony was showering.

After about 30 minutes she came down looking less angry and grimey. I smiled at her getting a glare in return.

Roman smirked, “So what exactly did you two do all night?”

She shot him a drop dead look before heading to the kitchen, “I’m going out.”

“Where?!” I shouted after her.

“Thomas and Mark want to go chill at the mall! I could use a day away from you Virgil!”

I chuckled, “That’s not what you were saying last night.”

She poked her head around the corner to give me a deadly glare, “This is exactly why I need a day away from you!” I simply smiled at her sweetly causing her cheeks to darken, “Whatever. I’ll be back later.”

Thomas jogged down the stairs and went to stand next to her, “Ready?”

She nodded, “Yea, let’s go.”

I smiled at her back, “Have fun!”

Roman shook his head as the door closed, “She really isn’t used to relationships is she?”

I chuckled, “Not in the slightest. She had a couple high school romances but nothing serious until Taylor and we all know how that ended.”

Roman and I continued to talk about random things while we watched Disney movies. It was kind of nice to spend time with someone other than Harmony. 

**Harmony’s POV**

 

I chuckled as Mark came out in a shirt that had a rainbow sheep on it, “We get it Mark, you’re gay.”

He shot me a mock glare, “Oh shut up, miss straight as a board.”

Thomas laughed lightly, “Come on Mark, I want to go to the food court!”

He rolled his eyes, “Fine, you nerd.” He went back into the dressing room to change.

He paid for his stuff when he came out and we headed to the food court. We got two baskets of fries and milkshakes before we sat down. 

“So you guys did it?” I nodded with a small blush and Mark smirked, “How was it?”

I rolled my eyes shoving his shoulder, “Perv!”

Thomas laughed, “Come on. You know you want to tell us.”

I bit my lip before smiling, “It was amazing! Best sex I’ve ever had! And he was so beyond sweet about everything!”

Mark swallowed his sip of his chocolate milkshake before speaking, “Who started things?”

I smirked, “Yours, truly.”

Thomas raised his eyebrows, “Really? But you’re usually so shy about those things.”

I shrugged, “Yea, usually. But Virgil was more shy than me, as to be expected. But he was so, so sweet. He was constantly making sure I was okay and he even asked me twice if I was sure about it.”

Mark chuckled, “Good, that means I won’t have to rough him up.”

I gave him a look that screamed ‘yea, sure’, “Like you would rough anyone up. You’re a textbook pacifist and so is Thomas. And we all know that I don’t need anyone to defend me, I’m perfectly capable of doing that myself.”

Thomas smirked, “Like you could hurt Virge. You have fallen so hard for him.”

I smiled softly, “Is it that obvious?”

Mark rolled his eyes playfully, “Oh, painfully so.”

I chuckled shrugging, “I don’t know. He’s just so… easy to be with. He makes me happy and he doesn’t judge me for anything I do or say. Hell, even our argument was a simple fix. And the best part is I’m not scared about how hard I’ve fallen for him. I know that he would never hurt me. It’s like he’s my prince charming.”

Mark smiled putting an arm around me, “I like him with you as well. He’s pushed you to get help and do things you’ve never thought twice about. You would never have gotten therapy before and probably would’ve ended up as a cat lady.”

I swatted his shoulder before smiling, “Wanna know what he’s inspired me to do now?” They both gave me curious looks and my smile widened, “I’m saving up to go back to college.”

“What!? Oh my god! That’s great Harm!” Thomas smiled.

Mark nodded, “That’s awesome! What are you going back for?”

“Veterinary technician. It will only take 2 years max to get the degree and I can advance in my current job with it.”

Mark squeezed my shoulders, “That’s amazing Harm.”

I smiled widely, “Thanks.” Then my smile turned playful, “Race you to the bookstore!”

I got up and rushed towards the bookstore, laughing at the dual shouts of ‘cheater’ behind me.


	22. Happy Halloween!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harmony, Virgil, Roman and Mark go to a Halloween party.

“Why do you look like JD from Heathers?”

I could tell Virgil rolled his eyes before responding, “Harmony’s making me go to some stupid costume party.”

“You love me!” I shouted as I put eyeliner on.

“Not this much!”

“Better watch it boy! You’re still in trouble for putting that stupid screaming doll in my closet!”

I heard Patton laugh, “I told you not to listen to Mark. He has dumb ideas.”

“That would be my boyfriend you’re talking about!” Roman shouted from beside me still trying to fix his cheek marks.

I giggled, “He is dumb.”

He shoved my shoulder lightly, “You can say that, you’ve been his friend since you were like 2.”

“4, actually,” I corrected as I put on light pink lipstick. I then smudged a bit of black eyeshadow on my chin and cheek before pulling away from the mirror, “Done! Do I look good?”

Roman nodded before doing a small turn in his Pikachu onesie, “I look acceptable?”

“Yea. I still can’t believe Mark convinced you to go as Pikachu.”

Roman rolled his eyes, “Me either. Now let’s get out there before our boyfriends get impatient.”

“Mine’s always impatient,” I joked as we exited the bathroom. 

Virgil smiled at the sight of me, “You look cute.”

I smirked wrapping my arms around his waist, “I'm always cute.”

He rolled his eyes, “Whatever you say Harm.”

Mark smiled getting out attention, “Let's head out.”

We had all decided to take Mark’s car to his friend Jamie’s house. I was a bit nervous about going to a party but it was only a small one and Mark really wanted to go. We pulled up to the quaint house and headed inside. 

Jamie smiled at the sight of us, “Mark! You made it!” 

He gave him a quick hug, “I promised I would.” He pulled me next to him, “Jamie, this is Harmony. Harm, this is Jamie.”

I smiled politely shaking his hand, “It's nice to meet you.”

He chuckled, “Same to you and might I say you look even cuter in person.”

I felt Virgil squeeze my hand slightly making me smile, “I've heard so much about you. I loved the story of how you two met.”

He smirked, “Then you can inform your boyfriend who is glaring at me that I'm not interested in you.” He then laughed, “Anyway, enjoy the party!”

He walked off and I turned to smack Virgil's shoulder, “Can you go one night without getting jealous of any guy who compliments me?!”

He rolled his eyes pulling me closer, “It's not jealousy, it's making sure people know you're mine.”

I pursed my lips at him in annoyance, “You'll be happy to know Jamie is asexual and already in a relationship. So he's not interested in me in  **any** way.”

Mark chuckled, “Let's get some drinks!”

I rolled my eyes but followed him to the kitchen where there was a punch bowl and a cooler full of beer and wine coolers. I took a strawberry wine cooler and gave Mark a beer. 

I smiled at the nervous Virgil, “You don't have to drink if you don't want to.”

He shrugged grabbing a beer, “Might as well try it, right?”

I rolled my eyes playfully, “Just don't drink too much. I don't want to have to take care of you all night.”

+-+-+-+-+

Do these boys even listen when I talk? 

Roman sighed as he supported Mark’s weight, “I think I'm going to stay with Mark to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid.”

I nodded in understanding, “Be safe. I have to take care of Virgil.”

He wanted before heading inside Mark's apartment. I pulled out of the parking space and started the 10 minutes drive to our apartment. It was going good until Virgil woke up from his little drunk nap. 

“You look so~ pretty in that outfit.”

I blushed a bit but rolled my eyes, “You're supposed to be laying down.”

“I don't wanna lay down.”

I groaned under my breath as I pulled into a parking space outside our apartments, “Let's get you inside.”

I got him out of the car supporting nearly half his weight. We walked inside where Thomas and Patton were watching A Dog’s Purpose with tear tracks down their face. Logan was reading a book while holding Patton’s have in comfort. 

Thomas paused the movie to gibe me and Virgil an odd look, “Is he-”

“Yes, because why would he listen when I say don't drink too much?”

Thomas smiled in amusement, “You okay to take care of him?”

I nodded with a small smile, “Finish watching your movie and ignore any threats you hear shouted from upstairs.”

He nodded, “Got it.”

I waved before heading upstairs still supporting Virgil's weight. I pulled him into his room and say him down on his bed. I took off his trench coat and then pulled his shirt over his head. 

He smiled at me drunkenly, “You could've just asked if you wanted me naked.”

I groaned at his awful attempt at flirting before pulling off his jeans, “I figured you wouldn't want to sleep in jeans, you dummy.”

I gently guided him to lay down. I went to walk out but he grabbed my arm and prevented me from leaving. I sighed sitting down on the bed next to him and running my fingers through his hair. He relaxed under my touch and closed his eyes. 

“Do you want kids in the future?”

I froze at the sound of his tired mumble, “W-Why do you ask?”

He shrugged slightly, “You just seem like you like kids so I was curious if you wanted some of your own.”

I bit my lip in hesitation, “Do you want kids?”

I saw his lips twitch with a hint of a smile, “Maybe. It'd be cute to have little Harmony's running around.”

I smiled sadly brushing my fingers through his hair, “It would be…”

He opened his eyes and frowned at me, “Are you okay?”

I nodded smiling brightly, “Why wouldn't I be?”

“I can feel your sadness and worry. What's wrong?”

I sighed before shaking my head, “We’ll talk about it later. Let's just sleep for now, okay?”

He nodded reluctantly letting me get up. I changed into one of Virgil’s shirts and laid down next to him. He wrapped his arms around me tightly burying his face into my hair. I smiled closing my eyes and letting myself drifted off to the sound of his soft breaths.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's a little short but I really wanted to get this out for Halloween. Next chapter will have a serious note to it so be prepared! Thanks for bothering to read!


	23. Those little talks...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harmony and Virge have a serious discussion before taking Clef to the dog park.

I sighed as I grabbed painkillers from the bathroom cabinet. I looked at myself in the mirror. I had taken off my makeup and put on regular clothes. I ran a hand over my cheek furrowing my brows at myself in the mirror. 

I really didn’t want him to remember our short conversation but when was luck ever on my side? What was I supposed to say to him? I thought this conversation wouldn’t come up for a long while. But I guess fate has other ideas for me.

I reluctantly headed back to Virgil’s room smiling weakly at the sight of him running his hand through his bed head, “Hey…”

He smiled a bit taking the painkillers and water from me. He took them quickly before laying back against his headboard. I hesitantly sat next to him chewing my lip nervously.

“Do you-”

“Yes.”

I looked towards the window trying to ignore the scared thump my heart gave, “Oh…”

“You realize I can feel the nerves and sadness right?” I simply bit my lip again in silence. He sighed moving to sit next to me, “What’s wrong? And don’t you dare say nothing.”

I sighed before steeling myself for his reaction, “I… I most likely won’t be able to have kids.”

He frowned putting an arm around me, “Why?”

“W-When I heard about my mom having difficulties conceiving children, I decided to get myself tested for anything like that and… I found out I have the same disease my mom had. Polycystic ovary syndrome. It can cause infertility. I technically won’t know anything until I actually start trying to have kids but it’s a possibility.”

I felt Virgil’s hand on my cheek guiding me to look at him. He frowned wiping some of the small formations of tears from my eyes.

I let out a small choked breath looking into his brown eyes, “I-I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I-I was just scared y-you would…”

“Leave?” I nodded once trying to wipe away the small tear tracks on my face. “I would never leave you over something as simple as not being able to have kids.”

“B-But you even said you wanted to have kids!”

He smiled, “Yea and there are tons of other ways we can have them. We can easily adopt a child when we want one. And it’s not fully guaranteed that you will be infertile. So it’s not something we have to worry about right now.”

I smiled a bit at him searching his face for a sign he was lying, “Are you sure? I-I mean adoption won’t be an easy process.”

He leaned over to plant a quick kiss on my lips, “Of course I’m sure. I want to be with you Harmony. We can worry about all that stuff in the future.”

I giggled kissing his nose, “Thank you. I appreciate you being so patient and helpful with me.”

He chuckled, “Only the best for you.”

“Clef! Get back here!”

I furrowed my brow confused until my little puppy ran in and jumped on the bed with one of Logan’s ties in her mouth. I chuckled patting my leg until she came over and sat next to me. I gently took the tie from her mouth as Logan stopped at Virgil’s door looking slightly out of breath. 

I smiled in amusement, “I’d love to hear this story.”

Logan rolled his eyes blushing slightly, “Patton took my tie and Clef stole it off the couch. Now can I have it back!”

I handed it to him laughing as his nose scrunched in disgust of the slobber on it, “Might want to wash it.”

He groaned storming back downstairs, “This is why I said you shouldn’t put my tie on the couch!”

“But you look too serious with it on!”

“I’m supposed to be serious!”

I laughed lightly petting Clef’s back, “Good girl!”

“I heard that Harmony!”

I bit my lip before turning to Virgil, “Wanna take Clef to the dog park with me?”

He nodded, “Sure. I’ll get dressed while you get her harness and collar on.

I picked Clef up and headed to my room where her box of stuff was. I set her on the table before grabbing her cute blue and black collar and black harness. I put her collar around her neck first fixing it quickly before gently putting her paws through her harness. I clipped it on and grabbed her matching leash. I clipped it on before jogging downstairs to meet Virgil at the bottom. 

He grabbed my hand and we started our walk to the dog park. It was peaceful. We got to the dog park and Virgil held the gate open for me. I shot him a smile before we went inside and sat down on a bench. I leaned down and unclipped Clef’s collar letting her run off to join some other puppies that were play fighting. 

I smiled leaning my head on Virgil’s shoulder as he wrapped an arm around my shoulder, “This is nice.”

He chuckled, “It is. We don’t get much time to ourselves now that you’re back to working.”

I let out a small breath of laughter, “Yea, but I’ve gotta pay rent somehow.”

“Hey Harm.” I hummed to let him know I was listening. “How would you feel about looking for a place of our own?”

I pulled my head up so I could turn and look at him, “Like… moving into another apartment?”

He shrugged, “Or a house. Just somewhere we could live, just us two. And Clef of course.”

I smiled a bit, “It sounds nice but it will take some work.”

He smiled back, “I’m willing to put the time in. You still have your rainy day fund that we could use so all we need to do is look for a place that has a decent price.”

I bit my lip hesitating for a second, “What about the others?”

“I think they’d support us. I’m sure they’d be thankful for not having our little prank wars going on every other week.”

I giggled, “I guess you’re right.” I hummed in thought before smiling, “Okay, it’d be nice to have a place of our own.”

Clef jumped in my lap to lick my face happily. I smiled petting her fur.

Then a little girl with braids walked up beside us, “Is that your dog?”

I nodded smiling, “Yea, her name’s Clef.”

The little girl looked at her feet before glancing back up at me, “Could I play fetch with her? My mommy said I should ask.”

I smiled brightly, “Of course! I’m sure Clef would love that.”

The girl smiled brightly, “Yay! Thanks miss!”

She grabbed on of the spare balls and waved it in front of Clef before throwing it a little ways away. Clef jumped off my lap to run after it. I smiled at the sight of the little girl playing with Clef.

“Thank you for letting her play with your puppy.”

I smiled brightly at the dark skinned girl, “Oh, it’s no trouble. Plus, how could I say no to that face?”

The girl laughed kindly, “Yea, she’s got her dad’s charm. Might I say, you two are the cutest couple I have ever seen.”

I chuckled, “Thank you. It’s such a chore to deal with this one.”

Virgil smirked at me raising his eyebrows, “I’m not the one who put 9 alarm clocks around my room set at different times of the night.”

I smirked back, “I’m not the one who put a screaming doll in my closet because Mark told you dolls creep me out.”

“I call it karma.” 

The lady laughed again, “Wow, you two get up to some fun times huh?”

I nodded, “Yea, it’s all worth it though.”

Virgil kissed my head, “You’re worth everything and more.”

I smiled before me and the woman, whose name I learned was Yolanda, got into a conversation about Clef and how I got her. It was a nice relaxing day. I needed those more often.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a short filler chapter. I've been planning this little story part for a while and wanted it to be short and sweet. Thanks for bothering to read!


	24. Distance and Fairs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harmony is finally confronted about her distant nature.

 

“Why are you being so distant?”

I looked away from his pleading brown eyes, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I have to get back to editing.”

I guess they all finally got fed up with my aversions because they staged a mini intervention when I came into the living room. I felt a familiar warmth at the fact that they were trying so hard but I still wasn’t in the mood to talk.

Thomas grabbed my arms before I could walk past, “No, you have been avoiding everyone for the past week. What’s going on?”

I glared at him surprising him a bit, “Back off Sanders.”

“No!” He protested moving me back in front of him, “Even Virge has said you’ve been avoiding conversation with him. So what the heck is going on?”

I shoved him enough to make him let go of my arms and stumble back a step, “Let it go! I don’t want to talk about it!”

I walked around him only to almost run into a concerned Patton. I tried to sidestep him but he only matched it.

“Move the hell out of my way Patton,” I growled lowly trying again to sidestep him.

He simply matched it again, “Not until you tell us what’s going on.”

I narrowed my eyes letting a small calming breath, “Move out of my way before I make you.”

“You wouldn’t hurt me and you know it.”

I scowled, “Wanna bet?”

“You’ve never hurt any one of us Harmony,” Logan chimed in from his spot on the couch, “I seriously doubt you would start now.”

I whipped around to glare at him, “Don’t test me!”

Roman sighed in exasperation, “Harmony, please. Just tell us what is burdening you.”

I moved my glare to him, “What part of I don’t want to talk about it, don’t you get?”

Virgil finally decided to step in stepping in front of me and placing his hands on my shoulders, “Please...”

He had that familiar soft look in his eyes that shined with concern for my well being. My face softened for a split second before I forced my cold persona back.

I took in a deep breath stepping back from him, “No.”

I turned lightly pushing Patton out of my way before storming upstairs and to my room. I leaned against my door for a moment trying to push away the tears that wanted to fall. Despite my good acting, I didn’t like this at all. I didn’t want to push anyone away. I didn’t want to hurt them, but I did anyway. All for the sake of bottling up my feelings and avoiding my problems. It was extremely rare that I get snappy and distant like this, but when it did happen, no one really knew how to snap me out of it. Well except Mark, but he’s been too busy to notice the way I’ve been acting.

I let out a shaky breath going to my computer and putting on my headphones. I blasted my music to drown out the sound of my conscious yelling bloody murder at me for shoving Thomas and Patton. I began to edit my video while slowly bottling up my feelings.

About 30 minutes passed before my headphones were pulled off. I turned to glare at whoever it was, a little surprised to see a smirking Mark.

“Go away.”

“Not until you stop being a bitch and tell everyone what’s going on.”

I growled at him standing up and grabbing for my headphones. He simply held them above him and way out of my reach. I tried to stand on my tiptoes to reach for it but he was almost a foot taller than me so it was in vain. 

I gave up and settled for glaring at the mildly amused male, “Why can’t you guys just respect that I don’t want to talk about it?”

He scoffed, “Because you ‘not wanting to talk about it’ is causing everyone to worry about your mental health. So spill baby.”

I groaned my temper rising dangerously high, “No! I don’t want to talk about it! I just want to finish editing my damn video!”

“So what? You’re just going to keep pushing everyone away in a vain attempt to bottle up your feelings? Even though you are aware that we all care about you and want to help you through whatever is going on?”

I gave him a hard shove causing him to stumble back a step, “Leave it alone! I’m fine!”

“You are most definitely not fine, mentally anyway.”

I huffed clenching my fists, “You’re going to push me over the edge Mark. And you’re the one person I’m not afraid to hit.”

“Try me baby.”

I snapped and punched his chest hard. I was surprised when he fell back onto the floor with a groan. My care for my friend immediately took over the angry persona I had been displaying. I dropped next to him and spoke frantically.

“I’m so, so sorry! I didn’t realize I hit you so hard! Please don’t be mad!”

The sound of Mark laughing hit my ears and I realized what he had done. He had pretended my punch actually hurt him so I would snap out of my mood.

I sighed in defeat punching his shoulder lightly, “You’re a jerk.”

He smiled at me, “A jerk who got you out of your funk.” I let out a small huff of laughter making his smile widen as he sat up, “Now will you come downstairs and tell everyone what’s been going on? They’re all really worried about you. Thomas said he was kind of scared because you were acting the way you did in high school.”

I sighed again, “Fine, but I’m not apologizing for punching you.”

“Eh, you’ve hit me way harder than that.”

I let out a breath of laughter before standing up. I helped him up and we walked downstairs where everyone was talking quietly. They all stopped and stared at me in concern when I hit the bottom of the stairs. I hugged my arms around myself and looked away.

Mark put an arm around me gently guiding me over to the couch, where we sat down, “Time to talk baby.”

I sighed fidgeting my hands nervously, “I-It’s… dumb honestly.”

“Obviously it means something if it made you so upset,” Roman said thoughtfully.

“I went out with Kayla and Caleb last week to go grab lunch. The subject of me going back to college was brought up and Caleb made a stupid joke that if he was the dean he wouldn’t let me in. I… I brushed it off at the time but then… I-I got a letter back from the college I applied to saying that I wasn’t accepted.”

“Oh Harm.” Thomas kneeled down to hug me, “I’m so sorry.”

I shrugged with a small plain smile, “It’s fine. I kind of expected it to be honest. I’ve just been stressing over going back to school. The idea of walking into a college class is kind of terrifying to be honest.”

Virgil sat down next to me and replaced Mark’s arm with his, “Why don’t you just do courses online then?”

I hesitated. Truth be told I hadn’t thought about that. I was so stressed over going back to school that I overlooked my other options.

“That… could work.”

Virgil smirked slightly, “You didn’t think about it did you?”

I shot him a small, weak glare, “Shut up.”

Mark chuckled, “Alright, what’s the next thing? Cause I know you stressing over school wouldn’t make you that pissy.”

I bit my lip for a moment in debate. It was true that something else had been going on, but I had hoped to just avoid it.

“Please don’t bottle things up,” Thomas pleaded his puppy dog eyes coming out, “Look where that got you in high school.”

I took in a deep breath before blowing it out in a sigh of defeat, “M-My parents reached out to me… They want to meet up and talk.”

I could feel Virgil tense slightly at the mention. He didn’t exactly have the best first impression with them. Everyone knew that my parents were a touchy subject so they didn’t really know what to say.

“Well,” Thomas started hesitantly, “Are you going to meet with them?”

I let out a small scoff of laughter, “Why should I?! They probably just want to remind me how much of a fuck up I am.”

Patton frowned, “Harm, you can’t just assume something bad is going to happen. Maybe it would be a good thing for you to meet with them.”

I frowned back looking away, “You sound like my therapist.”

“What?”

“I went to a one on one session after I got into a fight with my parents. She suggested I should talk to them to have some closure. I had been ignoring it until they reached out.”

Patton gave me a reproachful look, “Harm, I’m sure your parents are reaching out for a reason. A good one. Maybe they want to apologize.”

I scoffed again crossing my arms stubbornly, “You’ve obviously never met my family.”

“How about this? If you call your parents and meet up with them sometime this week, we can take today off and go to that little fair that you mentioned.”

I frowned narrowing my eyes at Mark, “You’re bribing me.”

“And it’s working.”

I sighed in defeat, “Fine.” 

Everyone cheered making me smile grudgingly. I hesitantly pulled out my phone and dialed my mom’s number. It rang twice before she picked up.

“Hope! I’m so glad you called me back!”

I bit my lip for a moment, almost tempted to hang up but Patton’s stern look made me speak up, “I-I was wondering if you had time to meet up this week.”

“Of course! Me and your father have Thursday off. We could go to that little diner we used to take you and Caleb to as kids.”

I smiled just a tiny bit, “Sounds great. I’ll meet you there on Thursday at 3.”

“Thank you so much for reaching back Hope! I can’t wait to see you!”

“Y-Yea, I’ll see you then.”

“Alright, bye my Hope.”

My heart froze and I quickly hung up at that little nickname.

Virgil immediately noticed my deer in the headlights expression, “Hey, you alright?”

“S-She called me ‘my Hope’.”

Mark frowned, “She hasn’t called you that since 5th grade.”

“She hasn’t called me that since I brought home my first F…”

Virgil squeezed my shoulder again, “Hey, it’s okay. Let’s not think about that stuff for now. Why don’t we all get dressed and go to that fair?”

I nodded pushing my thoughts away for now, “Sure, I’ll be back down in a minute.”

I got up and jogged up the stairs. I walked to my room and sifted through my closet for something warm to wear. I found a pair of black jeans and a cute flannel shirt. I put them on and pulled out a pair of black and grey cabin socks. I put my brown boots over them and then completed the outfit with a grey scarf. I threw my hair up into a ponytail, too lazy to actually style it.

I grabbed my plain brown slouch bag and put my wallet, keys, and phone into it. I jogged back downstairs to see everyone all ready to go. Mark and Roman took Mark’s car, Thomas, Logan, and Patton took Thomas’ car, and me and Virgil took my car. I let Virgil drive seeing as he didn’t get to do it that often.

“Are you okay?”

I looked over at Virgil and nodded with a small smile, “Yea, I just… wasn’t expecting that nickname. It’s been so long since she’s called me that.” I hesitated for a moment before speaking quietly, “H-Hey Virge?” He hummed to let me know he was listening. “Do… Do you think I’m wasting my time with this college stuff?”

“Let me counter your question with another question. Do  **you** feel like you’re wasting your time with going back to college?” I shrugged silently and he chuckled, “You were so excited before at the idea of going back to school and getting a better job. So is it you that thinks you’re wasting your time or is it everyone else?”

I bit the inside of my cheek before sighing, “I-I just didn’t think about how hard it’s going to be. What if I just fall right back into my old school habits? I’ll just fail right out of the gate.”

“Hey,” He said gently as he grabbed my hand, “Don’t think like that. The only reason you couldn’t focus on school before was because you were too busy dealing with your family. Plus you have all of us here to support you. I’m sure the others won’t mind helping if you ask them to.”

I smiled a bit as he ran his thumb across the back of my hand, “What if I’m too shy to ask for help? That was my main problem back in school. The material was confusing and I didn’t want to look like an idiot because everyone else could get it and I couldn’t.”

“Then I’ll check in on you every so often and make sure you’re getting through the material, okay?”

“Okay.”

We parked the car near the others and got out. I bounced on my feet excitedly as I saw all the different booths. I could see Patton doing the same thing next to me.

Logan smiled softly as he pulled Patton towards the booth of animals that he was looking at, “Come on. We can go look at them.”

“Yay!”

Mark, Roman, and Thomas went towards the food section while I was just looking around at all the different booths.

Virgil smiled, “What would you like to do?”

I shrugged smiling happily, “How about we just walk around a bit?”

I pulled him through the small crowds of people to look at the different booths. There were some showing off animals, some offering to draw or take pictures, some for face painting, some with jewelry. Nothing really caught my eye until we saw a booth showing off reptiles. I pulled a reluctant Virgil over to it looking at the lizards, snakes, and turtles.

The guy running the booth smiled noticing my wonder at the almost pure white snake, “I see you’ve met our Pastel Ivory Ball Python. His name’s Benjamin.”

I smiled at the man before looking back at the snake, “He’s adorable.”

“Would you like to hold him?”

I nodded excitedly. He gently open the glass door and took out Benjamin. He let him crawl over to my hand and wrap around it. I smiled as the snake looked around aloofly.

“Awe, Virgil! Look how cute he is!”

“Cute is not exactly the word I would use…”

The man let out a hearty chuckle, “Not a snake fan?”

“Not really.”

“Awe! He’s so cute!” I dragged as the snake moved lazily around my hand and arm.

“You have a puppy at home that probably wouldn’t appreciate your attention going to a snake.”

I pouted at him jokingly before giving Benjamin back to the man, “As much as I’d love to be able to adopt every cute animal I come across, he is right.”

The man smiled, “That’s okay! I just love seeing the smiles on people’s faces when they see the reptiles.”

I giggled, “Thank you so much for letting me hold him! He really is a sweetheart.”

The man gave a small salute before going to another person looking at a lizard of some sort. I pulled Virgil along to look at more booths. I stopped again at one that said ‘Hair Wizard’.

Virgil raised an eyebrow at the name before looking at me, “You did mention you wanted to change your hair cut.” He obviously noticed me hesitating cause he pulled me closer and kissed my forehead, “Come on. You’ve been wanting to change your hair for years now but couldn’t decide what to do. This could be a sign from the universe.”

I narrowed my eyes at him, “Don’t you dare use my beliefs against me.”

He smirked poking my side prompting a small squeel from my lips, “You know you want to!”

I bit my lip in a split moment of indecision before walking up to the booth. I watched with mild interest as the male did one last cut on a girl’s hair before smiling.

“Done! Would you like to see?”

She nodded and he turned her to the mirror. She gasped at the new and very cute red bob she was sporting, “Oh my god! Thank you so much!”

He smiled at her, “It’s no problem dear! But I’m afraid since you like it, you have to pay the five dollar fee.”

She nodded, “Again, thank you!”

She paid the girl who was at the small money box before the male noticed me and smiled, “I haven’t seen hair that long in ages!”

I smiled a bit, “I’m growing kind of sick of it to be honest.”

He hummed, “I have a really good vision, if you don’t mind going short that is.”

I glanced at Virgil who gave me an encouraging smile before I smiled at the man, “Sounds interesting. I’ll give it a try!”

He cheered leading me over to the chair and sitting me down, “I’m Bradley by the way! What might your name be, Rapunzel?”

I chuckled, “It’s Harmony.”

He put a cape around me and turned me away from the mirror, “Well, Harmony, would you mind if I did a before and after shot for my website? It’s been forever since I’ve done something with hair this long.”

I nodded, “Sure, would you mind if my boyfriend did a small vlog for my YouTube channel?”

“Not at all! But I would appreciate if you’d put my website in your description.”

“Of course!”

The lady running the money aspect did a picture quickly before sitting back down. Virgil pulled out his phone and started recording. I waved at the camera doing a quick explanation as Bradley started wetting and brushing through my hair.

“So how long have you been growing your hair out exactly?”

“Since I was 14 or 15. It started out because I didn’t have enough time to get an actual haircut and started just trimming my ends every now and again. Then I just got used to having long hair and never had the guts to change it.”

He hummed, “Interesting. I think you’ll love the idea I have. But if not, I won’t make you pay. That’s always been my rule. If you like it, you have to pay cause I’m not a miracle worker for free.”

I chuckled at this before taking a deep breath as he got his scissors out.

“Ready?”

I gave a sharp nod before I could back out. He snipped the first stand making me let out a small breath. He continued chatting with me, distracting me from the feeling of my hair getting lighter and lighter. Virgil also helped distract me by making sarcastic jokes and poking me. Soon Bradley pulled back to inspect his work before quickly drying my hair. 

“Done! You ready to see?”

I nodded before he turned me to the mirror. My eyes widened at the sight. My blonde hair with burgundy streaks now just barely reached my chin. It was messy but in a fashionable way. 

Bradley gave me a hopeful smile, “Well? What do you think?”

“I love it!” I exclaimed as I fluffed my hair with my one hand, “It’s been so long since I’ve had hair that didn’t hit my shoulders but it’s so cool!”

Bradley let out a small cheer before smiling at me, “I’m so glad you liked it! But as I said, I’m not a miracle worker for free.”

I smiled at him, “I know, be sure to give me your business card so I know which website to link.”

“Sally will be sure to give it to you!”

I paid got the business card then turned to the camera, “Hope all you guys will check Bradley’s website out in the description! But now, let’s find the others so I can shock them!”

Virgil stopped recording and pulled me close to kiss me quickly, “It looks amazing.”

“Doesn’t it?! Now seriously, let’s find everyone!”

We began our search before g deciding to text everyone to meet up at the picnic area they had set up. Me and Virgil sat down and he started recording as soon as he saw Roman, Thomas, and Mark walking this way. When they finally noticed us, Roman actually did a spit take with his soda and Mark’s jaw dropped. Thomas was simply smiling since he had known that I wanted to do this for so long. Logan and Patton appeared next. Patton gasped loudly and came over immediately to excitedly tell me how good I looked and Logan simply smiled at his boyfriend’s antics.

“You look very sophisticated Harmony.”

Roman finally recovered from his coughed fit and came over to sit down, “You look wonderful! Like Rapunzel at the end of Tangled!”

Thomas sat down on the other side of Patton and smiled at me, “It looks great Harm.”

Mark smirked at me as he sat next to Roman, “You look great baby.”

We began to talk about what happened and everyone said their opinions to the vlog. That was one of the most pleasant surprises when the sides got introduced to our audiences. After a few people met the sides in public, everyone figured out pretty quickly that the sides were their own beings. But they accepted it easily and any logical person that wasn’t a part of mine or Thomas’ fan base took it as another inside joke in the fandom. So Thomas never got experimented on or anything crazy like Virgil had suggested when we first met them.

Come to think of it, it had been over a year since they first appeared.

“What’s got you looking so happy?”

I looked up to see everyone had looked at me upon Mark’s statement. I smiled happily, “I just realized, it’s been over a year since you guys appeared.” 

Logan hummed in thought, “I guess it has been. We appeared on the 15th of October.”

Patton gasped, “Yea! And our first video was on the 19th! Wow, it seemed like such a short time.”

Virgil chuckled, “I guess it does seem like it was only yesterday.”

Roman smiled a bit, “Do you guys remember the day we met?”

Virgil smirked, “I remember Harmony’s death scream.”

I hit his shoulder as I blushed lightly, “What was I supposed to do when I walk into the living room to see Thomas holding his head and then four guys suddenly appear!?”

Thomas laughed, “Oh my god! I thought I was dying! It literally felt like my head was arguing with itself!”

Mark chuckled, “How did that happen by the way? You guys never explained it to me.”

Thomas and I glanced at each other before I spoke hesitantly, “We… don’t know actually. It just sort of, happened.”

Patton tilted his head looking almost guilty, “Oh yea, we never really did get around to exploring that further.”

I looked over at Logan who was reading something on his phone, “Do you have any idea Logan?”

He looked up and blushed slightly, “W-Well…”

I looked to the other sides to see them all avoiding eye contact. Thomas looked at me looking just as confused as me.

Thomas spoke up, “Guys? Something you’d like to share?”

Logan cleared his throat getting mine and Thomas’ attention, “There… are some things we never explained to you two.”

I raised my eyebrow glancing at Virgil who was pretending to scroll through his phone before giving Logan a confused look, “Like what?”

Logan looked downright uncomfortable as he adjusted his tie, “W-Well, while we don’t know the  **exact** reason we appeared, we had a theory but it requires some explaining.” We nodded for him to continue. “We kind of… lied a bit when we said we just ‘came about’ that day. We’ve always existed in Thomas’ mind as what we are but we never had a tangible form until that day.”

I frowned getting an uneasy feeling from this, “So… you all existed as representations in Thomas’ mind but never had a tangible form?”

He nodded, “Precisely.”

Thomas frowned too seeming a little nervous, “I guess I did visualize you guys like that. B-But why would you suddenly become visable?”

Logan glanced at Roman and Virgil who looked very uncomfortable, “Well, we had a theory.” He looked to me with a hesitant smile, “Please understand that this was  **not** a current emotion.” I nodded still confused. He sighed, “We had our own space that was sort of like our home. We of course had arguments in that space… On the day we appeared, Patton was reminiscing about our school days and Roman picked up on… the crush we had back then.” Thomas blushed at this and looked away from me. Logan continued gaining my attention again, “That crush had been a big inspiration for us in those days so, while Thomas himself didn’t have any lingering feelings, Roman did. He suggested that we should tell said crush about those feelings, he went off on a tangent about that crush feeling the same and romance forming. Virgil, being anxiety, naturally argued that it would make things awkward between the crush and Thomas since they were very close friends. Roman argued back saying he knew Virgil also had lingering feelings since a crush can also cause one to be anxious around them. We theorized that all the arguing between us gave Thomas a headache and all the feelings somehow made us appear.”

My eyes widened as I realized who ‘said crush’ was. My gaze snapped to Thomas who gave me an embarrassed smile before more realizations caught up with me.

“Is that… Is that why you flirted with me when you first got there?” I said giving Roman a perplexed look.

He nodded blushing deeply, “Yes, It was true that I still had lingering feelings for you. You did give me a lot of inspiration and creativity back in high school. You were part of the reason Thomas joined the Shrek musical that they held.”

I furrowed my brow at him before turning to Thomas, “Seriously? You said the reason you joined was because Shrek was a masterpiece.”

He chuckled nervously, “What was I supposed to say? I was far too nervous around you to actually say I had feelings for you.”

Then another realization hit me, but this one made my heart physically hurt and my stomach to clench. 

I turned to Virgil with a slightly hurt expression, “Is that why you… Is that the only reason you fell in love with me?!”

“I…”

I let out a small, hurt scoff before standing up and walking away. My head was reeling. He only liked me because Thomas had a crush on me? What… What does that mean?

“Wait up, kiddo!”

I slowed my pace just slightly so Patton could catch up and walk beside me, “What do you want?”

He smiled sadly, “You need someone to talk to right now.”

I let out a small huff, “I don’t want to talk.”

“But you need to.” I just looked away from him prompting a sigh from the fatherly figure, “You know that isn’t the reason he loves you.”

I let out another scoff giving him a look, “Do I? Why else would he have gotten so close to me so fast?! At first it just seemed like he was determined to make me lose my cool but then he… he started being so… nice to me. I… I’m not sure if that means the only reason he loves me is because Thomas had a high school crush on me.”

Patton gave me a small smile, “Is it true that the reason he was slightly more comfortable around you at first was because of those lingering feelings that he and Roman shared? Yes. Is that the reason he fell in love with you? Not at all.” I gave him a hesitant but curious look making his smile widen, “If he loved you solely because of those lingering feelings, that would mean Roman would have also loved you instantly and would have fought with him over you. Virgil fell in love with you naturally. You two did grow very close before discovering you wanted to be together, but that wasn’t because of Thomas’ crush. That was because you two talked and discovered shared interests.”

I frowned a bit before sighing, “I guess you’re right. I don’t even know why I got so mad. Even if he fell in love with me because of that crush, I’d still be happy being with him.”

Patton smiled proudly, “Thank you for realizing it. Now can we go back so Virgil can talk to you? Poor boy was so upset when you ran off. He thought he had hurt you by not knowing what to say.”

I smiled slightly, “I guess I did jump to conclusions pretty fast.”

We walked back to the picnic area where Virgil was snapping at Roman over something. I walked up and hesitantly tapped his shoulder. He turned to me blushing before standing up and grabbing my hands.

“I’m sorry. I-”

“No,” I cut him off in a soft tone, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions so fast.” He relaxed a bit and smiled at me. “You wanna walk around a bit more?”

He nodded and I gently pulled him by his hand to the food section. We walked in silence for a bit before that nagging feeling in the back of my mind won me over.

“Hey Virge?”

“What?”

“How did you fall in love with me?” I asked giving him a slightly nervous look, “You’ve explained why you love me but not how you fell in love with me.”

He smiled a bit pulling me closer, “Well… It is true that I had lingering feelings because of Thomas’ crush, so that was the reason I was so comfortable around you from the beginning. But that’s not how I fell in love with you. I fell in love with you because…” He hesitated for a split second, “Because you made the effort to get to know me and understand why I acted the way that I did. You didn’t just brush me off as the bad guy. You actually tried to help me understand that I was a good guy in disguise.” He brushed a piece of my short hair behind my ear, “I fell in love with you because you saw the good in me when I didn’t show it. You believed I could be a good person.”

I smiled leaning up to kiss him softly. I pulled back slowly a small blush on my face, “I really am sorry for running off like that. I do have my own anxieties to worry about.”

He chuckled kissing my forehead, “I know. Now, how about we go try some deep fried foods that probably shouldn’t have been deep fried?”

I nodded with a smile pulling him towards the deep fried Oreo booth. I was glad that I was lucky enough to have Virgil love me. Even if the reason was because of a school day crush, I’d still feel like the luckiest girl on the planet. Because I loved this gorgeous boy and he loved me back.

And that is all the truly matter to me.


	25. Caught red handed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harmony catches Logan reading something very illogical.

I sighed closing yet another tab of local apartment listings and leaning back in my desk chair. Apartment searching was awful. We told the others about three days ago and they agreed to help us if we needed them to. I had been turning to Patton and Logan for help, mostly. Patton usually helped with motivation and Logan helped me with focus.

I got up knowing I needed a break before I actually exploded at the sight of prices and descriptions of kitchens. I headed downstairs to refill my drink and maybe eat some food before Patton realizes I never came down for breakfast or lunch. I walked behind the couch, past Logan who was completely entranced by something on his phone. Normally, I wasn’t nosey but he looked so… emotional, which was rare even with Patton helping him with emotions. I snuck over and looked over his shoulder. I read a few lines before a huge smile overtook my face. 

I quickly snatched the phone out of his hand making him jump around to look at me in embarrassment and shock, “Logan! Is this… fanfiction?!”

He blushed deeply nervously fidgeting with his tie, “I-It’s not… what it looks like?”

I read a couple more lines before letting out a loud scoff of laughter, “Wait, wait, wait! Not only are you reading fanfiction but you’re reading Moxiety fanfiction!” I looked at him with a practically elated expression, “You’re reading about our boyfriends!”

He cleared his throat awkwardly, “I-I was only reading it for uh… r-research purposes?” I simply smirked at him making him groan, “Fine! I was reading it for… personal enjoyment. But it’s not my fault! It’s totally natural that things people perceive as ‘cute’ cause the mesocorticolimbic system to active which gives a feeling of euphoria similar to-”

“Logan,” I cut him off with a small laugh, “You don’t have to go on some long winded, scientific tangent to explain yourself. It’s not like I haven’t read all kinds of fanfiction, about myself or otherwise.” I walked around to sit next to him and hand him his phone, “Nice choice by the way. I love one shots where Anxiety is being adorable and needy.”

Logan hesitated narrowing his eyes at me for a moment, “You know… I have been slowly running out of one shots to read…”

I smirked slightly, “Is that your way of asking for recommendations?” He narrowed his eyes more making me laugh. I pulled out my phone and went to Archive of Our Own pulling up my Moxiety bookmark list, “Have you read Hugs are the best medicine?”

He seemed to hesitate before he scooted closer to look over my shoulder, “What’s it about?”

I smiled before beginning to explain the basics of the cute story. Basic plot is Patton having a bad day and Virgil being the only one to notice something was wrong which makes cute cuddles follow. We began going through our individual lists finding ones we had both read and then proceeding to fangirl/boy over them.

“What’s got you two so happy?”

Logan and I jumped at the sound of Patton’s voice and subsequently dropping both of our phones. I managed to snatch mine back up but Logan was a bit slower than Patton in grabbing the phone. Patton tilted his head as he read through the one shot we had been looking at. Which so happened to be a fanfic of Anxiety being sleep deprived and needy, and forcing Patton to cuddle with him. We both blushed deeply as he blinked twice before look at us, mainly Logan, in complete shock.

“I-Is this… a fanfic? About me and Virgil?!”

“What about you and me?” 

My blushed worsened as Virgil came to wrap his arms around my shoulders. I got slightly too distracted because he managed to snatch my phone from my death grip and began reading the one shot I had on my phone which happened to be a very… descriptive one shot about Patton and Virgil making out. 

He raised an eyebrow at the phone before looking at me in mock disappointment, “Harmony, I thought we were over this.”

My blush worsened as me and Logan glanced at each other, trying to think of an out. 

“I-I have to get back to apartment searching! Logan, you said you wanted to help me right!?”

He nodded in an instant standing up and slowly backing away with me in tow, “Yes! Let’s go, quickly!”

We rushed up the stairs and into my room. I closed the door quickly and leaned against it. We both sat in silence for a moment before I began to snicker.

Logan glared at me but it was half hearted, “I don't know how you could possibly find humor in this situation.”

I let out another loud snicker, “Logan, who else do you know would be so unlucky as to have, not just one of their boyfriends find them reading fanfiction about them, but both!? Finding us reading about them  **together** !?”

A small smile twitched on his lips before we both dissolved into laughter. It  **was** kind of funny if you think about it. It’s not exactly a common occurrence in any other household but it’s happened to me two or three times now. Slowly we calmed down and got back to apartment searching. Logan was, unsurprisingly, very good with numbers and prices. I even managed to find a couple places that I bookmarked.

Soon we head back downstairs only to stop short at the sight of our boyfriends reading things on our phones. We looked at each other before rushing over and snatching each of our phones from them.

I smirked, “Prinanxony? Is this… you, me, and Roman in relationship?”

I was pleasantly surprised when his cheeks tinted red and he stood up causing me to stumble back a few steps. He looked slightly annoyed which I knew was to cover up his obvious embarrassment. 

Logan let a small teasing smile cover his face as he read what was on his phone, “LAMP, as in Logic, Anxiety, Morality, and Princey all together.”

Patton blushed deeply, “I… I-It just came up in the recommended… I only just started reading it, I swear.”

I leaned over to look at Logan’s phone before clicking my tongue and shaking my head, “Patton, you are literally the embodiment of knowing right from wrong. It’s not good to lie, especially when you’re only two chapters from the end.”

He tensed slightly narrowing his eyes, “I only have two chapters left?” I smirked and nodded. Patton jumped up trying to reach for Logan’s phone which the latter held out of reach, “Gimme, gimme, gimme! I  **need** to know what happens!”

Logan smiled in amusement at his boyfriend, “Am I no longer satisfying your whims? Do you feel the need to include two other people in our relationship?”

“Logan! You know that’s not what I meant but I  **really** wanna know what happens!”

I turned to Virgil as I looked at how far he had gotten in his story, “Wow, and you are only three chapters from the end.” I could see his shoulders tense, a tell tale sign that he was getting very annoyed and close to snapping. Logical side said to stop now, while I’m ahead, but since when did I listen to my logical side. “Maybe, I should show this to Roman! I’m sure he’d be elated to know of your affections!”

Virgil grabbed for me which I just managed to dodge before I rushed up the stairs, taking them two at a time. I could feel him right on my heels so I ducked into the first room which, coincidently, was Roman’s. I slammed the door holding it in place with my feet digging into the carpet. Roman startled from his spot at his laptop and gave me a confused look.

I smiled innocently, “Read this! It’s Virgil’s new favorite book!”

“I will end you if you let him read that Harmony!”

I yelped as the door shook from Virgil banging on it. I also dropped my phone which Roman picked up and began to read. I was struggling to keep the door closed since Virgil was very strong when he was determined. Suddenly the door burst open nearly sending me to the floor. Luckily, or unfortunately I can’t decipher yet, Virgil caught my waist before I hit the floor. He pulled me up against his chest.

“You are so going to get it,” He growled near my ear making me shiver.

Roman chuckled lightly, “Well, well. Virgil, I am flattered but I am afraid I’m already in a committed relationship.”

I could tell Virgil’s eyes narrowed at him before he spoke to me again, “Didn’t I say I would end you if you let him read it?”

My eyes widened before I gave Roman a pleading smile, “Roman, you’re always up for saving a damsel in distress right?!”

He smirked slightly looking back to my phone, “Of course…” My smiled widened before he continued, “But, judging by the many Moxiety fanfics that are in your phone’s history, that I know Virgil would not be reading, you are  **no** damsel in distress.”

I glared at him as Virgil took my phone before putting me over his shoulder. I groaned as I was carried out of Roman’s room, who by the way had the nerve to give me a wave as I glared at him, and into Virgil’s room. I was tossed the bed with a certain angsty boy hovering above me. 

I smiled nervously as he glared at me, “I-I love you?”

He smirked, “You really think that’s going to get you out of this situation?”

I bit my lip before an escape plan hit me. I had to hope I had good acting today. I leaned up kissing Virgil lightly, knowing he couldn’t resist being dominant, especially over me. He kissed back almost instantly, the kiss becoming a little harsher against my lips. Virgil was very rarely soft with me, not that I minded all that much. It made the moments he was gentle with me even sweeter. I slowly began to run my hand up his chest to his shoulder. Just as I was about to flip us over he grabbed both my wrists and pinned them above my head. 

He pulled back to smirk at my shocked expression, “Nice try, princess.” 

My heart stuttered before speeding up at his slightly mischievous expression. I hadn’t seen him pull that face since we first got together, when he flirted with me to the point of my frustration snapping. He leaned closer ghosting his lips over mine making my breathing quake for a moment.

“I think you’ve taken advantage of my weaknesses enough. It’s my turn,” He whispered as he moved his lips to my neck. 

He left feather light kisses across the expanse of my exposed neck making me squirm slightly. While I knew his main weakness was being dominant, he also knew my biggest weak point was my neck. I held back a moan, only allowed a gasp to get through my lips. He smirked against my neck biting gently and sucking on the skin. He continued his treatment across my throat and to the other side leaving plenty of marks for me to cover later on. Finally he pulled away with a smirk that seemed more satisfied than it should be. I panted slightly trying to regain my brain from the mush it had turned into.

I finally was able to force my eyes to narrow at the cocky boy, “You’re a sadist.”

He chuckled, “And you’re into it so that makes you a masochist.”

I groaned managing to get my hands free and shove him off. I got up and headed to his wall mirror staring in half impressed horror at the sheer amount of marks, all ranging from big bruises to little bites.

“How the hell am I supposed to cover this!?”

“You don’t.”

I shot him a glare through the mirror before storming out of his room. I almost ran into Logan’s back as he exited Patton’s room. He spun around blushing deeply before he calmed slightly after realizing who it was. We both inspected the marks littered our opposites neck before we caught embarrassed gazes.

“You too huh?”

He blushed again avoiding my gaze for a moment, “I may have teased Patton a bit too much.”

I sighed grabbing his hand and pulling him to my room. He went and began inspecting his marks in the mirror while I fished around in my makeup drawer. I groaned under my breath when I pulled out my almost empty foundation bottle. I glanced at Logan who was staring at the many bite marks in slight horror and embarrassment. I looked back to the bottle before picking up my setting powder and holding it out to him. He glanced at them obviously noting how much foundation was left would only cover his marks.

He gave me a frown, “I couldn’t possibly-”

“Just take it,” I cut him off with a knowing smile, “We both know you would get far too flustered if someone pointed out the hickies.”

He glanced at the makeup then back to me before sighing in defeat, “Fine.” 

He took them gently and began working on covering the marks. I helped him a bit since he never applied makeup before for obvious reasons. Once we were done with that I headed to my closet and shifted through the box of hats, gloves, and scarves at the bottom before finding my Hufflepuff scarf. I wrapped it around my neck tightly which, thankfully, covered all the marks on my neck.

I sighed as I turned back to Logan who seemed slightly amused by my method of coverage, “I swear Virgil is a sadist.”

Logan chuckled as I sat next to him on my bed, “It’s completely understandable why he likes to mark you so much.” I gave him a confused look and he quickly elaborated, “Well, Virgil, while he mainly represented Thomas’ anxiety, also represented any traits Thomas deemed as ‘dark’. So he also has a bit of Thomas’ possessive nature. Plus he has Thomas’ fear of losing his significant other to someone who he perceives as ‘better’.”

I groaned laying back, “I just wish he wouldn’t leave dozens of them every other time he decides I need to be ‘marked’.”

Logan smirked slightly, “That’s not what you wanted in high school.”

I narrowed my eyes at him, “What are you talking about?”

“A certain girl had very vivid fantasies about having a possessive partner after reading a romance novel.”

I groaned covering my red face with my hands, “Why do you remember  **that** of all things?!”

“Because the first time you mentioned it was when you and Thomas were studying, so I was at the forefront of his mind.”

I chuckled sitting back up, “I guess I did mention it a lot. But that was back in high school! Before I actually knew what I wanted in a partner!”

“Are you saying you don’t like Virgil’s way of showing you’re his?”

I blushed again looking away, “I-I didn’t say that… It’s just, one or two visible love bites are okay but this,” I said pulling down the front of my scarf showing off the three marks just on my throat, “Is a bit much.” I fixed my scarf before continuing, “Don’t get me wrong, I… don’t mind Virgil being proud to call me his but, sometimes, I get a little worried.”

“About him becoming  **too** possessive?” I nodded slightly. “While I highly doubt Virgil would ever push you past your comfort zone, I can understand the concern.”

I let out a small huff of laughter, “I guess I’m just… out of touch with relationships. I’ve only had a couple and the last one wasn’t anything to call home about.”

Logan frowned for a moment hesitating as if he wanted to say something but was hesitant to bring it up, “Have you told anyone? About the texts?”

I looked away remembering the dreaded texts, “No… I haven’t had the guts too. The only reason you know about it was because you managed to reach my phone first.”

“You did ask me to look since you were preoccupied with apartment searching.”

It was true. I had been too distracted with looking at apartments yesterday, so when my phone went off I asked Logan, who was helping me with prices, to check it. I remember his almost angry expression after he read it. 

Taylor had managed to get my number from someone and had texted me asking to meet up and talk. I shouldn’t have responded but I did. I told him he should lose my number which only succeeded in making him angry with me. He had been texting me nonstop since then. At first they were angry texts but then they turned into apologetic texts saying he was getting better and wanted to bury the hatchet. 

Normally you’d think Logan wouldn’t be the type to get angry over something as simple as that, but he was surprisingly irrational about the texts.

“Has he sent anymore texts?” Logan asked bringing me out of my thoughts. 

I sighed pulling my phone from my pocket and showing him the ten most recent texts. They all had the same basic principle, that we should meet and talk about things.

Logan sighed the same angry look crossing his face, “Can’t you block his number?”

I shook my head, “My phone doesn’t have a blocking option. I-I didn’t respond though… this time.”

Logan frowned at me, “I thought we established that wasn’t your fault. It was a defensive reflex.”

I bit the inside of my cheek staring at the texts that almost begged me to respond, “Should I just-”

“Absolutely not.”

I gave him a shocked look, “You don’t even know what I was going to-”

“You were going to ask if you should just give in and meet with him. It’s written in your expression. Your mind is reverting back into the submissive state it was in when you were with him. Which is not an uncommon thing, a lot of abuse victims have relapses.”

I sighed fiddling with the end of my scarf, “He’s just going to keep texting until I agree to meet him…”

“It’s not a safe idea Harmony,” Logan said immediately, “He could easily try to hurt you when you meet with him.” I opened my mouth but he cut me off, “And don’t say you could take someone with you because we both know you would force yourself to go alone.”

I sighed in defeat, “I’m sorry okay? It’s just… so difficult to see these texts. All of them practically begging me to meet with him a-and just resolve everything.”

“Because it’s hard to talk to him or because it sounds tempting?” I looked away giving him his answer despite my silence. He sighed putting his hand on my shoulder causing me to look back at him, “Harmony, I know it is in your nature to want to forgive any grudges from your past. That’s just your personality. But you can’t just go blindly charging into dangerous situations. Taylor shows many signs of being a sociopath. Do you truly think he could just change all that in an instant?”

I bit my lip hesitating before giving another defeated sigh, “No… I know that logically he wouldn’t have changed from the last time we saw each other.” I hesitated again before speaking quietly, “He wasn’t always bad you know… When we first met and started dating, he was quite possibly the sweetest man I had ever met. He’d get me gifts and flowers all the time, he always told me how pretty I was, he never missed a date…”

“I know. But those could have very well just been ways to shape your view of him into something good before you began doing things he didn’t tell you to do. He’s a control freak, meaning he wants everything to go his way. He likely had these sociopathic tendencies from birth, there was no way to save him.”

I nodded with a small, saddened smile, “I know. It doesn’t stop it from hurting though. Anyway,” I said hoping to change the subject, “You want to go back to apartment searching?”

He smiled, “Sure.”

We continued where we left off even having Patton and Virgil join us after a while. Virgil and I had plenty of playful arguments over what we wanted in the apartment which made Patton giggle at our ‘cuteness’ and Logan to sigh at easily unfocused we became.

One of the argument may have ended with me shoving Virgil out of his chair but that’s besides the point. He started it anyway with his ‘we should have dark curtains’ argument.

What would I do without my angsty, socially awkward boyfriend?


	26. Meeting up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harmony meets up with her parents and things go wrong very fast.

I bit my lip looking at the small diner. I knew I was stalling a bit, even though I could see my parent’s car just across the street, meaning they were probably already inside. I was trying not to think of the millions of worst case scenarios going through my head a mile a minute.

I jumped when my phone rang playing May I, Virgil’s ringtone.

I answered quickly, “Hello?”

“Well now I know you aren’t inside.”

I let out a fake huff of anger despite the smile playing on my lips, “For your information, sir, I was going to go in just a minute.”

“You promised me you wouldn’t stall this.”

I sighed laying my forehead against the steering wheel, “I know. I’m just freaking out over nothing.”

“Do me a favor and take a deep breath.” I rolled my eyes but took in a deep breath of air and let it out slowly. “Thank you. Now stop panicking over things you can’t predict and get your very fine ass in there.”

I narrowed my eyes at my dashboard, “You’ve been hanging with Mark too much.”

“Point taken. Now go.”

I smiled grabbing my bag from my passenger seat, “Fine. I love you.”

“I love you too. Bye.”

“Bye.”

I hung up smiling at my phone for a moment before getting out of the car. I headed inside the diner and quickly spotted my mom waving me over to a four seater table. I walked over giving her a quick, slightly awkward hug before sitting across from her. 

“I’m so glad you decided to meet with us Hope!” My mom said practically gushing with happiness.

I smiled slightly, “I’ll decide whether I’m glad later.”

Her smile dimmed just a tad, “Fair enough. Anyway, how have you been?”

“Good. I recently got my acceptance email from an online college, I sang for a fundraiser at the shelter I work at, and Virgil and I are looking for an apartment of our own.”

My dad seemed to frown slightly at the mention of my boyfriend, “That's a pretty big step in a relationship. How long have you and Virgil been together?”

I looked at him evenly giving him the hint that I had heard his judgemental tone, “A little over 7 months.”

My mom frowned, “Wow, you must really be serious about him then. You didn't even move in with Taylor until you had been together ten months.”

I stiffened a bit at the mention of my ex, “I’m very serious about Virgil. He truly makes me happy and I love him dearly.”

My mom gave a smile that I knew was too excited to be good, “Well we have a little surprise for you. Taylor got in contact with us and wanted to be friends with you again. We gave him your number but he said you refused to meet up with him. So we invited him to join us here.”

My eyes widened just a hair, “You… gave him my number? Without my permission?!”

My dad spoke up with a small smile, “We knew you would say no despite it being good for you to talk things out with Taylor. You always were stubborn.”

“Hey Mr and Mrs Daniels! Sorry I was a little late, traffic was killer.”

I could feel my hair stand on end as my mom stood up to give him a quick hug before he sat next to me. I was all too aware of how close he was, our arms brushing every so often.

He smiled at me, “It's good to see you Treble.”

My mom let out an awe, “I almost forgot about that nickname. It was always so cute, considering how obsessed with music you are.”

I knew I couldn't sit here through an hour of talking with him like nothing was wrong. But to get out of here without being rude? It was impossible. I had no choice but to pull up my old highschool tough girl front. 

I gave a smirk at I grabbed my bag, “You two really never learn. I guess I was stupid to think you could change and know not to meddle in my life. I'll have you know, I am  **never** going to ‘talk things out’ with Taylor, nor will I leave my very loving boyfriend who I'm very happy with to be with this deadbeat. Thank you for wasting my time.”

I stood up and stormed out leaving my parents shocked at my bitchy exit. I went to get in my car but a hand pushed the door back closed. I raised my gaze to glare at Taylor.

He smiled back sweetly, “Come back inside Treble.”

I forced out an amused scoff, “And exactly who are you to tell me what to do? Last I checked I stopped living under your thumb over three years ago.”

His eyes narrowed a bit but he managed to keep his smile, “Did you really forget everything I taught you?”

Rational side said to back down and get out of this without violence but as I've said, when do I ever listen to logic? 

I gave his chest a meaningful shove making him stumble from the pure force behind it. He tried to grab my chin but I slapped his hand away. That made him snap. He reared back and punch me in the mouth. Instead of turning into a mess like I used to, I retaliated by give him a solid punch to the jaw. Using logic for once, I used his shock as an opportunity to jump in my car and speed off. 

I only slowed down when I was out of the small district where the diner was. You'd think a girl would feel scared or be crying when having just confronted her abusive ex but I wasn't. Instead I was pissed as hell.

Who did he think he was!? Reaching out to my parents and conning them into letting him meet with me when they didn't know the first thing about what happened between us. I guess I couldn't blame them too much seeing as I never told them that he was abusive towards me. 

I pulled up to the apartment and got out taking my bag with me. I stormed inside my angry expression finally softening at the sight of the sides, Thomas, and Mark watching TV. They all looked up, their eyes widening at the sight of me. I was confused as to why they were so shocked until I felt something drip off my chin and onto my hand.

I looked down cursing at the sight of blood. I put a hand to my lip now feeling the sting from where my lip had been split. 

Thomas got up rushing over and guiding me to the bathroom. My own eyes widened at how bad my lip was bleeding. He turned on the sink and wet a washcloth. I winced as he began cleaning the blood from my lip. 

“Hold this and apply pressure. 5 minutes.”

I sighed firmly pressing the rag to my lip. I leaned against the sink as Thomas rummaged around for our small medical kit. I looked to the door to see Patton hovering near the door looking unsure if he should come in. I gave a little nod letting the dad persona come in and fret over me. Soon I had gotten the bleeding to stop. Thomas handed Patton a cotton ball with peroxide on it. He gently began dabbing my lip causing a hiss from me.

He smiled sadly, “I know. Please try to hold still.”

I rolled my eyes but did my best not to flinch anymore. Soon Patton was done cleaning the wound and Thomas was inspecting it.

He sighed, “You won’t need stitches thankfully but I have put on some liquid bandage.” I narrowed my eyes at this and he narrowed his eyes right back, “Maybe if you didn’t randomly come home with a split lip that only god knows how you got, you wouldn’t need it!”

I gave up at this and let him apply some of the liquid to my lip. I couldn’t exactly protest too much. Plus I did feel slightly bad about making all of them worry. It probably scared Thomas a lot seeing as I haven’t gotten into a fight since graduation.

Thomas finished giving me a frown, “Done. Now come out and explain how exactly you wound up with a split lip while having lunch with your parents.”

I followed him out where everyone was waiting and talking nervously. They all looked to me when I came into view.

I took in a deep breath running my hand through my hair, “I uh… I guess I should start at the beginning.” Logan immediately knew what I was referencing and gave me a worried look not knowing how it correlated. I resisted the urge to bite my lip and let out a sigh, “A couple days ago I got a text randomly. It was from Taylor.” Everyone tensed up. “He was asking to meet up and talk about things. I simply told him to lose my number which just made him angry. He texted me almost nonstop for a day and half. Anyway, I found out from my lovely mother that they were the ones to give him my number because he ‘wanted to be friends again’. And before you all go on a bash wagon on my parents, they don’t know about Taylor being abusive. I just told them we broke up and weren’t going to talk anymore. Anyway, Taylor told them I refused to meet up so they invited him to join us at lunch. As soon as he showed up I flipped on a bitchy attitude and left. Taylor tried to command me to stay and I ended up shoving him. Yes, I know, I’m an idiot,” I cut off Mark’s annoyed look giving him a small glare before continuing, “He punched me and I gladly dislocated his jaw. I got in my car and left. I didn’t realize he split my lip until I got here as you could probably tell.”

Roman frowned glancing between me and Logan, “Logan knew about the text didn’t he?” I nodded. “Why did he know before us?”

Logan took the opportunity to explain, “We were looking at apartment listings when she received the text. She was busy so she asked me to check it. I saw it before her which is the only reason I knew about it. I have no doubt if she saw it first she would have hid it.”

Mark glared at me, “What were you thinking?! You know how violent Taylor gets! Especially if you start things with him!”

I rolled my eyes giving him a dull look, “You think I care? He deserved it! He has no right to try and control me anymore!”

“You’re lucky you only got off with a split lip, you know that right!?” He shouted back standing up to throw his hands up, “Do you not remember what happened the one time you fought back before!? You ended up in the hospital!”

“We get it! I’m an idiot! What else is new!?” I snapped back still in a pissed off mood, “I don’t care if I ended up dead at this point! He’s not going to make me live under his goddamn thumb anymore!”

“That’s not what happened the first time he hit you!”

I scowled at him feeling a small pull on my injured lip, “Maybe because I had no one to talk me out it back then!”

Mark calmed slightly giving me a confused look, “What?”

I put my hands up back away and flipping on a dull look, “No, forget it. I’m an idiot, we already knew this.”

“No, explain what the hell that means!”

I took in a deep breath before sighing in defeat, “Do you remember how many times we talked when you both went to college? You two were far too busy for me and I was busy being the mom to my younger siblings. When I met Taylor, he was the only one who had time for me. So yea, I became a little addicted to having someone around and let him use me, but that’s not on me.”

Thomas frowned, “That’s not-”

“I know it’s not you guys’ fault Thomas,” I cut him off in a tired tone. “It’s not anyone’s fault.” I shrugged it off pulling up a dull front, “It’s whatever. I’m going for a walk.”

I turned grabbing my bag and walking out the door. I got halfway down the sidewalk before the door opened up and someone jogged up next to me. I glanced over to see Virgil. I ignored him continuing to walk in silence. 

“They don’t blame you.”

I scoffed, “Sure they don’t.”

“I’m being serious. They’re just upset that he had the nerve to hurt you.”

I sighed, “I know but that doesn’t give them the right to berate my choice to fight back.”

“You know, you haven’t gotten in a fight since graduation.”

I let out a small huff of laughter, “Yea, I punched Todd Fisher in the nose for calling my dress second hand trash.”

Virgil chuckled, “Yea, that was well deserved.” He smiled at me, “I would’ve thought you’d be too afraid to fight back against Taylor. The last time you saw him you had a major panic attack.”

I looked down at the ground, “That’s the day we had our first fight…”

“Yea, and you made up an entire song for me. Even though it was my fault for being a jealous prick.”

I smiled a bit at that, “Yea but that was months ago. I… don’t know why but instead of my instinct being to back down, it just said to fight back. I guess therapy really is helping.”

I looked at him as he put his arm around me and pulled me to him, “Don’t give all the credit to therapy. You’ve been becoming strong on your own as well.”

I smiled at him still being conscious of my injury, “I guess I have. I have you sides to thank for that. I don’t think I would have had the courage to do half the things I’m doing now.”

“Treble!”

I tensed slightly looking up to see Taylor jogging up to us. I could tell Virgil pulled me a bit closer to him, almost as if he was trying to protect me, but didn’t comment on it. Taylor stopped in front of us sporting a nice purple painted jaw.

“What do you want Taylor?” I said dully not bothering to put on an act.

He smiled at me sweetly, “I wanted to apologize for hitting you. I’m just really eager to talk things out.”

I let out a small scoff of laughter through my nose, “Are you actually idiotic? How many hints do I have to give you that I don’t want to talk to you before it sinks in?”

I could see his shoulders tense a bit at my backtalk but he kept his caring expression, “Come on Treble. We used to be so close, even before we dated! I just want that friendship back.”

I smirked slightly, “I don’t. I have enough real friends in my life, I don’t need a fake one.”

“It’s not fake Treble. I really do want to be friends again. I just miss you being in my life.”

“Not sorry to say that I don’t miss having an abusive, controlling prick in my life.”

He reached for me but Virgil quickly moved me behind him blocking Taylor from being able to reach me. I gripped onto his hoodie sleeve to keep him from straight up attacking Taylor. He didn’t relax in the slightest but I knew he felt my hand and was aware enough to not snap while I’m here.

Taylor’s face turned dark but he kept his cool surprisingly well, “I’d appreciate if I could talk to Harmony without you in the way.”

Virgil scoffed, “And I’d appreciate if you left my girlfriend alone permanently.”

Taylor scowled slightly his glare moving to me, “This is your little boytoy? Seems like a big downgrade Treble.

I saw Virgil’s shoulders square up and quickly got in between them putting my hands on Virgil’s chest to keep him from attacking Taylor. He relaxed a bit under my touch but still didn’t stop glaring at Taylor. I leaned up to kiss his jaw quickly before turning and pressing my back against him so I could face Taylor while still keeping an eye on him.

I looked at Taylor evenly not bothering to put up a front to hide my tiredness of playing games, “Taylor, I’m going to say this once so listen closely. I will  **never** date you again. I was a fool to let you control me before but I’m not that naive anymore. I am finally happy with someone after three years of wasting my life moping over you and I’m not about to give that up. I don’t want you in my life in  **any** way. I recommend forgetting we ever knew each other because that’s what I’m doing.”

Taylor glared at me darkly, “You’d really rather date this wannabe emo?”

I smirked, “I’ll gladly take my emo boy over being abused by you any day.”

He took a couple steps back still glaring, “This isn’t over Treble. I’ll find a way to get you back.”

“I highly doubt that.”

He growled at me before turning and storming off. I let out a small breath I didn’t realize I had been holding. I felt Virgil’s arms wrap around my waist from behind as he kissed the back of my head. I relaxed under his touch leaning back against him.

“You know that was a pretty dumb move, right? He could have seriously hurt you.”

I shrugged, “Why not add some more injuries to compliment the split lip? I’m really going for that ‘I just got through five rounds with Ronda Rousey’ look.”

Virgil scoffed out a laugh and hugged me tighter, “Seriously, please don’t put yourself in dangerous situations like that. It’d kill me if you got hurt trying to keep me from attacking someone.”

I turned in his arms to peck his lips, “When are you boys going to realize that I’ve been fighting people for over half my life? I know how to defend myself against someone.”

He simply gave me a look before leaning down to kiss me again. I kissed back lightly taking notice that he was being extra gentle because of my injured lip. I pulled away after a minute to smile at him.

“So, what would you say if I said I got us an apartment viewing for Saturday?”

My face lit up slightly, “Seriously!?” He nodded with a small smile and I let out a small squeal hugging my arms around his neck tightly, “Yay! Hopefully this one will actually work out.”

We had only had two other apartment viewings before and neither really worked out well. The first one was just way too small and cramped and the second one was snatched up before we could decide on it. 

“Come on. Let’s get back before the others start to worry.”

I nodded letting him lead me back to the apartment. 

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried about the future. So many questions run through my head a mile a minute. Are we moving too fast? What happens if things don’t work out? What if I lost him?

I looked over at Virgil as he hummed along to some song that must be stuck in his head. I smiled a bit at how calm he seemed.

You know what? I can worry about all that at a later time.


	27. Our own place

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harmony and Virgil move into their new apartment with the help of their friends.

 

“Virgil! I swear to god if you hand me the wrong thing one more time, I’m going to hit you!”

He smirked slightly, “Not my fault someone decided Ikea furniture would hold up better.”

I glared at him before looking back at the instructions, “Now I need… the L shaped thingies.”

“You mean the L brackets?”

“Shut up and hand them over.”

He did so with a small smirk. I began to screw the brackets into place. 

Building a bookshelf was surprisingly difficult when it’s left to two people who argue like five year olds over who’s better. But I guess that’s what you get when a childish couple moves into their own apartment. It was a nice place. It was a simple one bedroom, one bathroom apartment. It was very nice though and they were perfectly fine with pets so Clef doesn’t have to stay in a crate or anything.

Currently we were in the living room trying to set up a simple black bookshelf so we could put our combination of books on display. We had to get a bunch of basic furniture because it was an unfurnished apartment. We thought it’d be best to set up all the furniture before we unpacked. We had gotten a good bit done. Only things left to do were this bookshelf, our bed frame, and then move the mattress that Mark and Roman are bringing over up to the bedroom.

“Okay, almost done! We just need to put the shelves in and move it into place.”

“Finally, it feels like we’ve been doing this for hours.”

I raised an eyebrow at him as I grabbed one of the shelves, “It’s been 45 minutes.”

“Felt like hours.”

I chuckled as I slid the top shelf in place, “That’s because you’re lazy hun.”

“What’s with the pet names lately?”

I hummed innocently as I slid the next shelf in place, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

I could feel his eyes narrow at me, “Yes you do. You’ve been calling me hun, sweetie, and pumpkin, you even called me buttercup! Usually the most you call me is babe. So what the hell is going on?”

I continued to hum sliding the last shelf in place, “I really don’t know what you’re talking about.” I turned to him smiling widely, “You ready to move it into the corner, love?”

He growled lowly, “Stop it.”

I kept my innocent face, “Stop what honey bunch?”

“I’m seriously going to attack you if you keep this up.”

I bit my lip to surpress a giggle, “Keep what up angel?”

“Okay, that’s it.”

I squealed as he grabbed my waist and put me over his shoulder. I squirmed slightly as I laughed trying to get down. I yelped when he slapped my butt.

“Now, are you going to tell me why you keep calling me random pet names?”

I laughed nervously as I tried to push myself up, “I can’t! I promised I wouldn’t!”

“Promised who!?” I kept quiet still trying to struggle out of his hold lightly. “I’m going to start spinning in circles,” He threatened.

I laughed again, “No! Please! I really can’t tell you!”

“One.”

“Virgil! Please don’t!”

“Then tell me.” I still didn’t speak. “Two.”

I laughed out of fear again, “No! Please!”

“Th-”

“NO! I’ll tell you, but please, for the love of Mike Faist, do  **not** spin me around!”

“Get to telling.”

I sighed in defeat, “Me and Roman have a bet.”

“About?”

“To see who can get their boyfriend to be embarrassed in front of everyone first,” I grumbled out reluctantly.

He chuckled, “Then why call me pet names when we’re alone?”

“I was using innocent ones to test your reaction. I was going to start using worse ones in front of everyone later.”

“You realize I have to get payback on you and Roman now right?”

“No! Please,” I whined trying to kick out of his grip which only made him tighten his arm, “I’m sorry! I just wanted to get back at Roman for making me wear my prom dress ages ago!”

“Don’t care. You must pay the price.”

I groaned, “What do you want?”

“You can guess.”

“Ew! No!”

“Or I could just start spinning in circles.”

“Ugh! I don’t wanna! It’s boring!”

“First off, how dare you. Second, it’s the only way.”

I struggled and kicked my legs for another moment before sighing in defeat, “Fine, we can watch Black Cauldron tonight.”

“Yes!” He even fist pumped making me scoff at him.

Then the door opened and Mark’s voice flooded the apartment, “You guys are supposed to be working on furniture.”

“We were until I decided to get to the bottom of the random pet names my lovely girlfriend kept calling me.”

“You found out about their little bet, didn’t you?”

“Yep, how long have you known?”

“Since before me and Roman left my apartment,” I could hear the smirk in his voice.

I scoffed loudly, “Goddamn traitorous bastard.”

“Very kind of you Harmony,” Roman said sarcastically. “It’s not like you held out either missy.”

I smirked slightly, “At least I didn’t let Mark be top.”

Roman gasped in horror, “Mark! I thought that was a secret!”

Mark began to laugh, “I’m sorry! Babe, no! It was one of our late night talks! Baby!”

I heard the door slam making me laugh loudly. Finally Virgil put me back on my feet. I gripped his shoulder for a second as blood rushed down from my head. 

Mark shot me a mock glare, “Thanks a lot Harm!”

I smirked, “It was a joke aimed at him, you were just collateral.”

“I’ll be sure to tell the police you were ‘just collateral’ when they find you in a ditch.”

The door opened again and Patton came around the corner with a tupperware container, “I brought cookies!”

I rushed over to take them and give him a quick hug, “Thank you Patton!”

He chuckled, “No problem kiddo! Now what’s left to do?”

“Well we just finished the bookshelf, we have to move it into the corner and then that’s done. We still have to build the bed frame for the mattress so we have to wait to bring it into the room until that’s done.”

Patton nodded turning to the doorway, “Sweetie!”

Logan come around the corner with an annoyed expression, which I could tell was slightly forced, “I thought I told you to stop that.”

I bit my lip covering my mouth before swallowing back my laughter and speaking, “Is that a bow tie with math equations on it?”

Logan blushed and huffed, “Patton bought it.”

Virgil laughed, “So, you willingly put that on?”

I hit his shoulder lightly, “Don’t tease them. I think it looks good on him.”

He continued to chuckle, “It’s so nerdy.”

I shoved him lightly before turning to look at everyone else, “Just for that. Patton, would you and Virgil move the bookcase and then start bringing the mattress up? Logan and I are going to put the bed frame together.”

Patton nodded, “Sure thing! Mark, do you want to help?”

“Want to? No. Will I? Yes.”

I chuckled and lead Logan to the bedroom. The bed frame pieces were stacked against the wall with the screws and tools laying in a box next to them. I headed over and picked up the instructions.

“First things first! Let’s figure out the instructions.”

Logan chuckled coming to look over my shoulder, “Can’t be that hard?”

“It’s from Ikea.”

“Oh…”

We looked over the instructions before we got to work. We got the headboard assembled pretty easily. When we got to the sides of the bed however, we began to argue.

“You’re screwing the wrong way!”

I glared at him, “I don’t see you doing anything, specs!”

“I will ignore your childish insult in favor of telling you to screw clockwise!”

I grumbled but began screwing the opposite way, “I swear I’m going to bite you.”

“That’s primitive and rude.”

“What could you two be fighting about now?” Patton said as he stepped into the room.

“She threatened to bite me at least 3 times now!”

I shot Logan a glare, “Tattletail!”

Patton chuckled, “Come on you two. It’ll get done faster if you stop arguing over the color of the sky. Also don’t bite Logan… That’s my job.” He winked as he left the room.

I chuckled when I saw Logan’s red and annoyed face, “Come on. Let’s get this done.”

It seemed that Patton’s comment silenced Logan enough that we stopped arguing and got the bed built. After that was done we put the mattress on and made the bed. Since the work was done and everyone one was pretty tired, we all agreed to have a proper get together tomorrow and even agreed on shooting a video for my channel. After everyone left, me and Virgil started unpacking the decorative stuff and putting it around the apartment. He insisted on hanging his Nightmare Before Christmas posters in the living room and I agreed since I wanted to hang my Five Nights at Freddy’s poster in our room.

Clef was having fun exploring the house and enjoyed the little blue dog bed we got her. She had grown quite a bit over the past couple months. She was up to my knees now.

There was a knock at the door. 

“Can you get it?! I’m setting up our Play Station!” Virgil shouted back at me. 

I dried my hands after setting the plate in the strainer. I jogged over to the door and opened it with a smile which immediately faltered seeing who was at the door.

My mom smiled nervously with my dad shifting from foot to foot behind her, “Hi Hope! We brought a little housewarming gift.” She handed me the small gift basket that had a collection of spices and a rose in it. She wrung her hands nervously, “We know how much you love to cook.”

Now, I’m sure you’re all expecting me to slam the door in their faces and not even bother to ask why they were here… but if you know anything about me, you know I’m very family oriented. So as much as I want to force myself to slam the door and ignore them, the rational part of my brain reminded me that it wasn’t entirely their fault for the whole Taylor incident.

I took a deep breath searching my mom’s face for any sign of a trick, “How did you know where we moved?”

“We got your address from Mark.”

I made a mental note to slap Mark next time I saw him. “What do you want?”

My dad smiled sadly, “We wanted to talk. We… are very sorry about meddling in your personal life. We just assumed you’d like being friends with Taylor again. Which was wrong on our part.”

My mom smiled hopefully, “Could we come in?”

I bit the inside of my lip looking back towards the living room where Virgil was giving me a look obviously hearing our conversation. I looked back at my parents and gave in with a nod. I opened the door wider and let them in. They sat down on the couch while I went to put the spice basket in the kitchen.

Arms wrapped around my waist from behind before a kiss was placed on the back of my head, “You sure about this?”

“No, but I don’t have it in me to slam the door in their faces.”

He sighed as I turned in his arms to look at him, “Just don’t expect me to be entirely nice to them. I still don’t trust them, especially after last time you met up with them.” His hand came up to my cheek and his thumb swiped across my almost healed lip.

I smiled at him, “I’ll deal with them. You just focus on finishing up the Play Station. You still owe me a rematch at Mario Kart.”

“I’m telling you I didn’t cheat.”

I narrowed my eyes playfully as I pulled out of his arms, “Sure you didn’t, mister ‘Let’s keep kissing my girlfriend’s cheek until she loses’.”

He chuckled kissing my temple quickly before we walked back into the living room. I hesitantly sat down on the opposite end of the couch to where my parents were sitting while Virgil went back to setting up the gaming console. 

“We really are sorry about inviting Taylor to lunch. We didn’t know you had such strong feelings about not wanting to see him…”

I sighed running a hand through my hair, “I’m not mad about that. I was but I can’t stay mad at you when you don’t know the full story.”

My mom frowned, “What do you mean Hope?”

I bit my lip glancing at Virgil who gave me a small reassuring smile. I took in a deep breath looking back at my worried and confused parents.

“There’s… some things I never told you about Taylor and I’s relationship.” They shared a worried look before looking back at me in question. “Taylor… wasn’t the prince I made him out to be. In fact, he was very abusive towards me. It was very rarely physical, most of the of time it was just yelling and manipulation but it was enough to mess me up. I almost lost all my friends because of his jealousy until Mark and Thomas talked some sense into me. I was anxious around everyone at first but I slowly got better. I’m currently in therapy for abuse victims to help my little quirks.”

My mom had small tears making their way down her face, “Why didn’t you tell us? W-We would have tried to help you.”

I smiled sadly hesitantly grabbing her hand, “I didn’t think I needed or deserved help until Thomas and Mark got me away from him. I… was very messed up by the relationship. I never told you because I didn’t find it necessary. It was already said and done with. That’s why I simply said that Taylor and I had broken up and weren’t going to talk anymore.”

My mom gripped my hand tightly her other hand come up to my cheek as she searched my face, her eyes stopping at my healing lip, “Did… Did he do that?” I nodded once chosing to stay silent. “I’m so sorry my Hope.”

I smiled a bit as I searched her matching grey eyes, “You know… I froze a little when you called me that on the phone before. It was the first time you called me that since 5th grade… since I brought home my first F.”

She smiled sadly, “You had failed your math test because you fell asleep during the lesson prior to it. Because you had stayed up the night before school taking care of Stevie cause he was being extra fussy. Your father and I were too busy arguing over the mortgage to notice…”

“Yea… I did that a lot…”

“Don’t think we didn’t notice your hard work Hope,” My dad said smiling sadly, “We just… were angry at the way our marriage had turned out. We didn’t expect that we’d keep having kids and when we did… we didn’t have enough money to pay all the bills. It caused a lot of stress. That’s not an excuse for how we acted though. We basically shunned you for years because you weren’t able to do our job as well as school work. And that’s totally on us. We are deeply sorry for it.”

I searched their faces for some sign of a trick before smiling, “I forgive you. But that doesn’t mean I’m forgetting it. It… will take some time before things are fully okay.”

My mom smiled hopefully, “We’re willing to wait however long it takes. We will always love you Hope.”

“I love you guys too.”

We talked for a bit longer before they left. I fell onto the couch with a small huff closing my eyes tightly.

I smiled when I felt the couch dip and lips pressed against my cheek. I opened my eyes and turned to catch Virgil’s lips before he got too far away from me. He kissed back in an instant putting his hand on my cheek. 

I pulled away after a minute to smile at him, “Today has been eventful.”

He smiled back rubbing his thumb on my cheekbone, “Yea, still can’t believe we’re in our own apartment.”

I chuckled, “I know right. We have a whole place to ourselves, which means,” I dragged snatching up my controller and starting the Play Station, “No one can bother us while we fight over Mario Kart.”

Virgil smirked in challenge as he grabbed his controller, “You are so going down Hope.”

I smiled my chest warming just a bit at the mention of my real name, “Thank you by the way.”

“What for?”

I picked Daisy as my character, “For not saying my real name in front of the others. Only Mark knows my real name and he knows not to call me it in front of people, or at all really.”

He leaned over and kissed my cheek before we started the race, “I figured you wouldn’t want to explain all that to everyone else.”

“I appreciate i- No! You whore!” I yelled as he hit me with a green shell. “There’s so many other people in front of both of us and you chose to hit me?!”

He laughed nudging me with his shoulder, “I told you it was on.”

The rest of our night consisted of Mario Kart, yelling swear words, and little kisses and nudges hoping to throw the other person off. It was a simple night but still another night I can add to the box of lovely memories I have. 

Having your own apartment is cool, especially because I can shove Virgil off the couch and not have Dadton on my case.


	28. Alternate Chapter/Ending - Movie night gone wrong.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An alternate idea someone prompted me on Wattpad.

I was wrong, I was so,  _ so _ wrong.

Patton decided it’d be nice to watch a movie as a family since everyone was finally back. So we were all forced into the living room to watch Moana. Everything was fine, playful banter and jokes…

Until Anxiety and Roman began to fight over Disney themes again.

“You can’t tell me you don’t see the darker meanings in those movies!”

“How could you hate the movies so much!?”

“I never said I hated them! They just have dark meanings!”

“You’re a dark meaning!”

“And you’re an over imaganitive thought!”

And that’s when it happened.

“You wanna talk about imaginative thoughts?! Why don’t you ask your girlfriend what she was thinking about when wearing your hoodie?!”

I froze completely as Anxiety gave me a confused look, “What is he talking about?”

I glared at Roman who looked like he hadn’t meant to blurt that out, “I am going to kill you.”

“It’s not my fault you can’t handle the smell of your boyfriend without getting needy!”

Anxiety’s eyes widened as it dawned on him. Roman covered his mouth realizing what he had just said. Patton and Thomas both gave me sympathetic looks and Logan was glancing warily between me and Roman, as if expecting me to attack him. My face was slowly getting redder and redder and small tears of sheer embarrassment formed in my eyes.

I shook my head slowly standing up and forcing a chuckle that didn’t sound quite right, “You know what Roman? I may be a little bit needy sometimes…” My smile turned malicious, “But you’re going to need a hospital trip when I’m done with you.”

I hopped over the coffee table and tackled Roman. He let out a girly screech immediately covering his face as I threw punch after punch into him. I didn’t even aim for anything, I was just swinging and hoping I did some damage. After a couple seconds of shocked silence, everyone else sprung into action. I felt arms wrap around my waist pulling me off of Roman and back a bit. I struggled slightly before realizing it was Patton who had grabbed me. I reluctantly stopped struggling simply panting from my attacks. I didn’t want to accidently hurt Patton. He hadn’t done anything wrong. 

Logan sighed as he helped Roman up from the floor and lead him into the kitchen, “Let’s get you some ice to help with the swelling.”

Patton hesitantly let me go making sure I wasn’t about to attack anyone again. I simply sat back down waiting for Thomas’ inevitable lecture.

“What were you thinking?!” Here we go. “You can’t just attack people over stupid things like blackmail! Okay, well, blackmail is a little bad so I guess it is kind of justified but still! You can’t attack the people you live with! People who consider you a friend!”

I huffed pouting childishly, “I don’t care. He deserved it.”

“Harmony!” I winced back a bit but continued to pout. “Just… go sit in your room while we deal with Roman’s injuries.”

I scowled at him slightly, “What’s next? You gonna take away my cell phone?”

“Just go!”

I scoffed storming up the stairs and intot my room. I swung my door shut only to have it open again. I shot Anxiety a glare before laying down on my bed. I felt the bed dip behind me before I felt him playing with my hair. 

“That wasn’t very nice.”

I huffed, “I’m sick of being nice.”

He chuckled as I turned to face him, “Well maybe you should start with not saying sorry, not full on assaulting someone.” I let out a small giggle making him smile. “Seriously, you could have hurt him.”

I raised an eyebrow, “What do you think I was trying to do?”

He gave me a look as he pushed my hair from my face, “We both know you already regret attack him and want to apologize.” I rolled my eyes but didn’t object to his statement. “C’mon, they should be done making sure you didn’t break anything.”

He got up and held out his hand which I took hesitantly. I let him pull me up and lead me downstairs.

Roman was sitting on the couch with an ice pack on his shoulder. I could feel my guilt eat away at my stomach. See, while I may have fought a lot in high school and almost never regretted it, all the years of Thomas teaching me how to be kind undo that in a second.

Everyone look over at me as I crossed my arms across my chest. Patton immediately got up and practically shoved me on to the couch next to Roman. 

“Harmony.” I grunted in response. “Say it!”

I rolled my eyes, “I’m sorry.”

Roman smiled in amusement of my childish behavior, “I should be the saying sorry. I’ve been blackmailing you for two days over something stupid.”

I smiled at him reluctantly, “Just start knocking, okay?”

He blushed a bit smiling sheepishly, “Of course. We’re good?”

“We’re good.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyy, so I've been kinda MIA. I've been super busy with school work, research papers are hell. I'm playing catch up in English but other than that I'm getting all A's. I'm going to try to get a little Christmas special thing out soon but no promises. Hopefully it'll be up before Christmas but again no promises. 
> 
> The person who gave me this little prompt/idea was Genie_Gray on Wattpad.


	29. Merry Christmas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Christmas Special. Have a good holiday!

I pressed the record button before waving at the camera, “Hey melodies! Today, as you can tell by the shaky camera work, we are going to do a vlog-esqe video! With me is, Thomas!” I said pointing the camera at him which he gave a wave to from his spot on the floor. “Roman!” Roman shot a smile at the camera before I moved it to Mark, “Mark. Logan and Patton.” I moved the camera to the couple sat on the floor together. Patton stuck his tongue out at the camera while Logan rolled his eyes and smiled. “And last and definitely least, Virgil!”

Virgil gave a sarcastic smile, “So nice of you Harmony! Now tell them what we’re doing!”

I turned the camera back to me with a smile, “We are setting up me and Virgil’s new tree! As you could probably tell by the new background, Virgil and I have moved into our own apartment and have gotten ourselves a new tree! It’s fake obviously because I am not cleaning up pine needles for the first half of the new year.”

“And of course, she had to wait till the 23rd to set up her tree!” Mark shouted sarcastically.

I shot the him a sour look as I turned the camera towards him, “Oh hush! We all knew leaving the option up to me and Virgil, who procrastinates just as much as I do, was a terrible idea.”

Thomas laughed lightly, “Alright, no fighting. Let’s just set up the tree.”

Mark rolled his eyes as I pointed the camera to where he and Roman we’re finishing up setting up the base, “I swear this base has more screws than teenagers on prom night.”

I started laughing loudly as Virgil snickered before covering his mouth, “Mark! We agreed you wouldn’t make sex jokes in my vlog!”

He smirked, “Like you aren’t going to break that rule like 3 minutes in.”

“Just as long as you last in bed.”

Roman chuckled, “It’s so true though.”

Mark gasped dramatically, “Roman! We both know that is a straight lie!”

“If it’s coming from Roman, it is most definitely not straight,” Virgil chimed in as he started putting the sections of tree on the base. 

I groaned playfully, “We’re literally two minutes into this vlog and already we’ve made two sex jokes and a sexuality quip, which is honestly just pointing out the obvious.”

Thomas chuckled, “This is why your channel is demonitized.”

I stuck my tongue out at him before they finished setting up the tree, “Yay! Time for lights!”

Patton jumped up, “Ooh! I wanna help!”

I giggled giving the camera to Logan who we all know isn’t going to be helping much in the creative department. I grabbed the light roll letting Patton set the end of the light string on a high branch since I couldn’t reach the top. I began unrolling the light string walking around with Patton following me and making sure the lights were placed right on the branches. Soon we had the entire tree wrapped. 

Virgil chuckled picking up the tote box of plastic ornaments, “Ornament time. We already put hooks on them so we just have to hang them.”

I looked down for a second and immediately had to rush around to smack the top of Clef’s head lightly, “No! Do not chew the tree Clef!”

She let go in favor of licking my hand. I smiled petting her head before grabbing a black angel ornament from the box. Originally it was a regular white cartoon angel but I simply painted her dress black to match Virgil and I’s ‘emo’ aesthetic. We spent the next 40 minutes placing ornaments on and talking. It was really relaxing, which I’ve honestly needed since my schooling started. It’s been a bit stressful and I’ve unfortunately been a bit busy. Luckily for me, I have a pretty understanding boyfriend who, though he was annoyed at the lack of time we had been spending together, didn’t push too much about going out when I was tired from a lecture or assignment.

“I call putting the star on!”

Mark scoffed, “You can’t reach the top of the tree!”

I smiled widely as I grabbed the battery powered star and turned it on, “No, but I have a very strong boyfriend who is able to lift me up.”

Virgil smiled as I came to stand next to him, “You’re just lucky you’re light and cute.”

He wrapped his arms around my waist and lifted me up so I could reach the top of the tree, which was only six foot but still out of my reach. I placed the star on and fixed it quickly before Virgil set me down. 

I plugged the lights in and everyone cheered as the tree lit up in red and green lights. I smiled grabbing the camera from Logan and filming the tree from a couple angles. 

I then turned the camera back towards me, “Well, that’s probably going to be it for this vlog! If anything fun happens It won’t end yet but if not, see ya!”

I turned off the camera and we spent a bit talking before agreeing to meet up to exchange gifts on the 25th. Soon everyone had left and it was just me and Virgil in the apartment.

Virgil smiled, “Can we exchange gifts now? I’m really eager for you to see what I got you.”

I nodded leaning over to grab my gift and my camera, “I’m filming it though.”

He nodded and I pressed record doing a very quick intro type thing explaining that we were exchanging gifts early. 

“Me first!” 

I handed him the gift that was wrapped in red wrapping paper with silver bells on it. He opened it slowly and smiled at it. It was a Nightmare Before Christmas journal that had a picture of Jack holding Sally on the front. 

“You mentioned you wanted to start writing down some of the random thoughts you had and I saw this when Thomas and I went out gift shopping. I know it’s a little childish but I thought of you instantly,” I explained with a small blush on my cheeks.

Virgil leaned over to kiss my lips quickly, “I love it, Harm.” He then leaned over the edge of the couch to grab a small wrapped gift, “My turn.” He took the camera from me and began filming my reaction.

I took and unwrapped it quickly. I furrowed my brows in confusion at the navy blue jewelry box. I hesitantly lifted the lid and let out a gasp. I lifted the plain silver heart locket out and smiled slightly as I read the engraving on the front.

‘I’m always yours, stupid’.

I opened the locket, my eyes getting slightly misty as I looked at the familiar picture. It was a picture I convinced Virgil to take on my birthday just after I got Clef. I was smiling at the camera with my makeup still perfect while Virgil held Clef up between us. She was licking his chin as he was chuckling.

I covered my mouth for a moment before setting the box aside and wrapping my arms around Virgil’s neck and kissing his face over and over. 

He laughed as I pulled away to smile at him, “Glad you like it.”

I unwrapped my arms and grabbed the box again pulling the locket out, “Will you put it on me?”

He nodded setting the camera down as I turned on the couch and let him clip the necklace on. I played with the charm before kissing him again.

“I really do love it.”

He smiled as I picked up the camera again, “I hoped you would. It wasn’t that cheap. I had to take some overtime at the coffee shop.”

Sometimes I forgot that Virgil now had a job. He decided he should be able to pay part of the rent as well since my channel was having some issues with demonitization and my twitch streams weren’t too popular yet.

I did another quick outro before shutting off the camera and laying my head on Virgil’s shoulder. He put on the Nightmare Before Christmas. We spent the rest of the night like that. Just relaxing and enjoying each other’s company. To put it simply… 

It was a really great Christmas.

 


	30. Fun facts for the new year!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I decided to tell you guys some fun facts about A Broken Harmony for the new year. Happy 2018 everyone!

**5 Fun Facts about A Broken Harmony!!**

  1. In the first version of this book Harmony’s second job was going to be at a strip club. But then I decided I wanted to post this and deleted those chapters because they were **far** too sexual for anyone else’s eyes.
  2. Originally, Harmony was going to be bisexual and Taylor was going to be a girl, I changed it after hearing the song He’s Not Him by Megan and Liz because I wanted to use that song in the makeup scene.
  3. There was also a scene I wrote in Taking The Steps, where Virgil took Harmony to a dog shelter and got an old service dog named Bones. It was changed in the end because of many reasons, the main two being that it didn’t make sense and I had planned a birthday chapter soon anyway. 
  4. In Caught red handed, I wrote a scene where the sides, Thomas, Harmony, and Mark all had dinner and Mark saw the texts on Harm’s phone, resulting in an argument that caused a panic attack. I changed it because once again it didn’t make sense and, two, it was way too long.
  5. I honestly didn’t expect this story to get as popular as it has on all the platforms it’s posted on. I am so very grateful that people enjoy my stories and have been so supportive and helpful in their comments. It’s a nice feeling to know I’ve made so many people smile. 




	31. Trouble in Paradise.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harmony is a little too stressed, leading to a fight between her and Virgil.

I sighed in aggravation as I erased another good portion of my essay and began to type again. This was due in two days and I’ve been going through the same routine of getting 75 percent done then having to erase 50 percent of my work. It was starting to grate on my nerves. 

I heard the door open before Clef’s excited yipping as she probably attacked Virgil’s legs, “I’m home!”

I rubbed my face harshly, “I’m in the bedroom!”

I heard walking before arms wrapped around my neck from behind, “Still working on that essay?”

I nodded continuing my typing, “I only have two more days to finish it.”

“Maybe you should take a break and come watch something with me.”

“Did you even hear what I just said?”

I heard him sigh in impatience as he slowly pulled away from me, probably to change out of his barista uniform, “Yea, you have two more days. That’s plenty of time Harm.”

“No, it’s not. Especially when I keep getting over half way through then having to erase a quarter of what I just wrote.”

I heard our closet door shut, “Babe, don’t you think you’re getting a little too worked up over this? Maybe it would help to take a break.”

“I have to get this done! If I put it off now, I’ll put it off till that last minute and fail completely!”

“You know, you haven’t spent, like,  **any** time with me lately. I’m starting to think you’re just ignoring me.”

I rolled my eyes turning in my chair to give him an annoyed look, “Virgil, seriously? I just have a lot of assignments to get done.  **You** of all people should understand why I’m stressing.”

He scoffed glaring at me slightly, “What I understand, is you’re stressing yourself out more than you should or need to. Just take a break for like 20 minutes and come sit with me.”

I let out a scoff of laughter, “And Roman says  **I’m** the needy one.”

His eyes widened before they turned slightly hurt. He turned grabbing his old black hoodie and storming out of the room.

I stood up and followed him knowing I was out of line, “Virgil! Where are you going?!”

I turned the corner in time to see him glare back at me, “I’m going for a walk. Not that you care.”

“Virge-”

I was cut off by the door slamming shut. I winced back frowning worriedly at the closed door. It was a bit chilly out and it was raining. I didn’t want him to get sick because I was being a stubborn ass. I walked into the living room and glanced out the window, relieved to see that it was only a light rain still. Hopefully he comes back soon. 

I went back to my essay continuing my stressed out cycle. 30 minutes in, I began to get distracted with worry. The rain was getting heavier and a wind storm was setting in. Another 40 minutes went by before I really began to worry. I was pacing back and forth debating whether I should call the others or not. I had already tried calling Virgil twice and both times it went straight to voicemail.

10 minutes, and watching the rain turn into a full on storm, was all it took to convince me to call.

I tried Thomas first knowing he was planning to stay in today.

“Hey Harm! Finished your essay finally?” 

I swallowed hard glancing back out the window, “N-Not exactly. Um…”

“Harm? What’s wrong?” Thomas’ voice took on a worried tone.

“Virgil and I got into a small fight a-and he stormed out like an hour and a half ago. He hasn’t come back yet and I’m really starting to freak out.”

“I’ll be over with the others in a few minutes, okay? Just try to calm down.”

“I make no promises.”

We said our byes and I went back to pacing the floor. Not even 10 minutes later there was a knock at my door. I opened the door letting Logan, Patton, and Thomas in.

Thomas gave me a quick hug, “We couldn’t get a hold of Roman and Mark, they’re still out on there date.”

I nodded biting my nails again, “That’s fine. I-I’m just getting really frantic.”

Patton put an arm around me and lead me to sit on the couch, “How long has he been gone?”

“A little over an hour and a half. I-It wasn’t raining as bad when he left so I didn’t think it would be a big deal. B-But then it started storming and he wasn’t home. And I’m on the verge of a panic attack.”

“Hey, breathe. We’ll find him. I’m sure he’s just sitting in a shop somewhere to get out of the rain. He isn’t stupid.”

“Did you try calling him?”

“Yea, twice. It went to voicemail.”

Thomas frowned, “That’s not like Virge. He usually always answers.”

I began picking at my hands worriedly, “I-I just assumed it was because he didn’t want to talk to me until an hour went by.”

Logan pulled out his phone and quickly called his number. I waited impatiently as he blinked before looking at his phone. I knew immediately it had gone to voicemail again and began to grip my nails into my hand as a distraction.

Patton quickly noticed and grabbed my hands, “Hey, hey. Calm down. Thomas and I can go driving around and see if we find him.”

Thomas phone went off and he checked it quickly, “Mark and Roman just finished their date and said they’ll help as well.”

Logan nodded, “Alright, I’m going to stay with Harm.”

They both nodded and left. I was trying to focus on breath calmly which was a struggle but I managed. 

Logan gave me a small smile, “Didn’t you mention you were struggling with an essay?”

I nodded leading him back to the bedroom and sitting down at my computer, “I-I need to do an essay on the effects of anesthesia on animals but I’ve been rewriting and erasing my work constantly.”

Logan immediately took to work reading my essay and distracting me. I was extremely grateful for the effort he put in. We actually managed to finish the essay within 20 minutes, since he reassured me that my previous work just needed to be changed a bit.

Logan’s phone went off and he answered it immediately, “Hello?” I could hear Patton’s rushed voice on the other end of the line. “Patton, dear, you’re talking too fast again.” More talking. “What!? Is he-” Patton cut him off. Logan sighed, “Yea, we’ll be there as soon as we can.” He hung up and faced me with a worried but calm expression, “Promise me you won’t panic.” I nodded unsure of why this needed to be promised. “They found Virgil.” My heart leaped with joy. “But he’s currently in the hospital.”

My heart crashed down to my feet as my brain shut down completely. It was only able to repeat the word hospital over and over. Despite my promise, I could feel myself immediately go into panic mode.

I felt hands pressing into my shoulders gently, “Harmony, breathe.”

Realizing I hadn’t taken a breath in a good minute, I managed a very ragged breath as I stared at Logan with wide eyes, “W-What happened?” My voice was barely more than a frantic whisper.

Logan frowned, “He has a case of hypothermia. Roman found him passed out and shaking on a park bench.”

I struggled to form a coherent thought. Too many panic filled things were flying through my mind.

“C-Can we go see him?” Is all I could managed to get out.

Logan nodded helping me stand and putting a stiff arm around my shoulder in an attempt at comfort. He lead me out to my car and we began our deathly silent drive to the hospital. When we pulled up, I nearly jumped out of the car and rushed into the emergency room. I spotted the group sitting in the waiting room and walked over. Roman spotted me first and met me halfway to give me a reassuring hug. I could feel my eyes beginning to tear up as I hugged him back. He lead me over to the group and sat me down.

“Please tell me he’s okay,” I whispered out with tears finally starting to leak out of my eyes. 

Mark sat down next to me grabbing my hand and running his hand up and down my arm reassuringly, “He’s going to be fine. The doctors said that they think it was only a mild case.”

“This is all my fault,” I murmered, a sob trailing my voice followed by more.

Patton kneeling in front of me putting his hands on my shoulders, “Hey, look at me.” I looked at him through blurry eyes. “He’s going to be fine,” He said slowly and firmly. 

I nodded taking in a shaky breath, “Yea, yea… He’ll be fine.”

Patton smiled sadly rubbing my shoulders with his thumbs in a comforting gesture, “Just try to breathe, okay?”

I nodded focusing on my breathing with Mark continuing to rub my arm to help ground me. We were all disturbingly silent as we waited on any news.

“Is there a Hope Daniels here?” 

I reluctantly stood up earning odd looks from everyone but Mark, “T-That would be me.”

The doctor smiled coming over to me, “You’re boyfriend Virgil just woke up. He’s still a little out of it because we had to give him a sedative to calm him down. He’d like to see you if you’re up for it.”

I nodded, “Of course. I-Is he okay?”

She nodded, “He’ll be fine by tomorrow. It was just severe enough to need a hospital trip but he’s recovering fast. We’ll be able to release him later tonight.”

I swallowed hard giving her a shaky smile, “Thank you.”

She patted my shoulder quickly, “He’s in room 314 when you’re ready.”

I gave another nod before she walked back into the emergency room. 

“You’re name is… Hope?” Patton asked seeming confused.

I took in a deep breath, “Yes, my real name is Hope and I’d appreciate it if you didn’t call me that. I much prefer Harmony.”

Logan frowned, “Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’ve heard Virgil call you this before.”

“Yes, I allow Virgil to call me it. Now, do you want me to sit here and give a very long winded, overly emotional explanation as to why or can I go see my boyfriend?” I snapped slightly my patience wearing ragged.

Logan blinked before nodding, “Sorry.”

I turned and walked quickly back into the emergency room and found room 314. I stepped in my eyes tearing up at the sight of a tired Virgil in a hospital gown. I walked over and buried my face into his shoulder gripping his hand tightly. I couldn’t help the couple of small sobs that managed to escape my lips.

“Why are you crying?” Virgil asked with slightly slurred speech. 

I lifted my head prepared to spew out hundreds of apologies only to have them die on my tongue when I saw the pure love and care lying in his brown eyes, hidden with a thin veil of tiredness. I swallowed back my repentent speech and gave a shaky smile as I sat in the chair next to the bed.

“I-I just love you so,  _ so _ much.”

He smiled tiredly rubbing his thumb across the back of my hand, “I love you too Hope.”

I laid my head on his arm letting him play with my hair as I slowly forced myself to calm down. I continued to talk to with him smiling lightly whenever he slurred or said he loved me. Apparently Virgil was very lovey when he was high on sedatives. He even told Patton he was a great dad when the others came in making us all laugh.

I took a break to go outside for a moment. I ended up sitting on a bench next to a woman who was smoking. I eyed her for a moment before making a split decision.

“Mind if I bum a cig?”

She looked over me before smirking and hand me a cigarette from her pack and a lighter, “Stressful day?”

I nodded lighting the cigarette and taking a big drag. I resisted the urge to cough as I blew out smoke. We small talked for a bit about how long it had been since I had smoked and our reasons for being at a hospital. Truth be told, I did smoke on and off in highschool, mainly because I would hang around the ‘bad’ kids before I met Thomas. The woman gave me another cigarette after I had finished mine and let me light it before she left. 

It felt good to be distracted by the feeling of burning smoke filling my lungs before the relieving exhale. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not about to start buying packs, but it was a good distraction from the stressful day I’ve had.

“Are you smoking?!”

I jumped turning my head to look at a shocked Roman as I was taking another drag. I blew smoke out slowly, “No, I’m juggling. Can’t you tell?”

He rolled his eyes as he sat next to me, “I meant that as why are you smoking. And since when do you smoke?”

I shrugged, “I smoked in highschool before I met Thomas and became friends with him.” I gave him a pleading look, “Please don’t tell him or Patton, by the way. They’d kill me.”

Roman smiled minusculely, “I won’t, as long as this doesn’t become a habit.” He gave me a stern look.

I chuckled as I blew out smoke away from him, “Deal.”

“Are you alright?”

I shrugged again, “I’m going to keep pretending I am.”

“You know, if you need to talk, you can just ask any one of us.”

I nodded as I finished the cigarette and put it in the ash try next to me, “I know Roman. I’m just not up for talking right now.”

He frowned but accepted my answer, “Just don’t bottle things up for too long.”

“Sure.”

I mentally started a list of how many lies I’ve said today. Another distraction tactic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I decided I should post this chapter on my birthday as a fun little thing. I'm officially 18. Kill me... lol Thanks for reading!


	32. Recovery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgil recovers at home and notices his girlfriend's odd behavior.

**Virgil’s POV**

 

I had been home from my hospital scare for two days. Everyone had been very helpful to me while I was still slightly sick. I had managed to get off with just the flu after the hypothermia. Harmony had been… odd, to say the least. 

She seemed to switch between two moods. She was either by my side fretting over every step I took or she was on the other side of the apartment busying herself with cleaning and practically ignoring me. I had the sneaking suspicion that she blamed herself for our small fight and me storming out.

“You need anything?”

I gave Harmony a smile, “I need someone to cuddle with while I watch Quarentine.”

She hesitated rubbing her arms nervously, a new habit she’s picked up recently, “I don’t know. I-I have some dishes to wash and clothes to get done.”

I frowned sitting up more, “Are you okay?”

She furrowed her brows as she looked at me, “What do you mean?”

I gave her a sarcastic smile, “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe the fact that no matter if you’re fretting over me or ignoring my presence, you’ve barely touched me at all since I got out of the hospital.”

She chuckled nervously, playing with her hair, “You noticed huh?”

“Of course I noticed. My girlfriend is practically jumping out of her skin if I so much as brush against her.”

She hesitated once more before sitting on the couch, albeit on the opposite end, “I-I’m just… worried.”

“You’re worried what? I’ll shatter if you hold my hand?”

She huffed, smiling grudgingly, “No. It’s just…”

I sat up more scooting closer to her, “Please tell me what’s going on. You’ve been out of it since our argument.”

I was surprised that all it took was the word argument for her to break down crying. She covered her mouth as tears began running down her face like a broken faucet. She let out a sob or two and scooted back from me when I tried to reach out to her.

She took in a shaky breath, “Do you realize you could have died? I-If your hypothermia was worse or not treated soon enough, you could have literally frozen to death.”

I frowned at her, “You looked up the effects of it, didn’t you?”

She nodded solemnly, “I couldn’t help it. I-I needed to know how bad you could’ve been hurt and when I knew how bad it could have been I-I… I didn’t want to hurt you.”

“Hope, look at me.” She hesitantly looked at me with teary eyes. “I’m fine. My hypothermia wasn’t that severe and I got off with the flu. Everything’s-”

“What if it wasn’t!?” She burst out with another sob. She took in another shaky breath, “You could have  **died** because of me being a stubborn bitch! I-If I would’ve just asked for some help in the first place, I wouldn’t have been stressing over nothing and we wouldn’t have argued at all!” She seemed to deflate slightly as tears rushed down her face, “I-I could’ve lost you…”

I hesitantly reach out again, going slowly enough that she could stop me. Instead she leaned into my shoulder and let me hold her gingerly. She let out a couple more quiet sobs as she shook in my arms. I was at a loss for what to do. I had never seen her so… emotional. Usually when something bad happens, she’s calm and level headed but from what I’ve been seeing, and from what everyone told me, she’s really torn up about this.

I sighed kissing the side of her head gently, “Hope, I’m  **fine** . It’s pointless to worry over what could have happened when I’m perfectly okay. You should just be thankful that I’m alright, not worried over how I could’ve died.”

She let out a shuddering breath pulling her head up to look at me, “I know, I know. I… I honestly don’t know what’s going on with me. I’ve been so crazy this past month or two.”

I rubbed her side pulling her so she was laying against my chest, “You did just start schooling after years of being away from it. It could just be stress.”

She hummed slightly, “Maybe… I don’t want to worry about it right now. I’m sure it’ll go down once I get more used to school. Just…” She gave me a pleading look, “Just try not to take anything I do or say to heart or out of context. I’ve been… being really confrontational and that is completely my fault, but I don’t want to say something stupid and have you get hurt again.”

She looked so serious and slightly scared about the idea of me getting hurt again. 

I nodded with a small smile, “I’ll try. Now let’s watch some good old found footage films!”

She giggled leaned into my shoulder as I played Quarentine. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried about my girlfriend’s behavior lately. It seemed like she was switching moods faster than I could blink. And a good 60 percent of the time she hated being touched. I honestly didn’t get it.

I sighed silently looked down at the loving girl in my arms. 

Guess I can live with it for now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is just a short filler chapter before the next big reveal in the story. You can take guesses on the comments and I might just give those who guessed it a shout out at the end of the next chapter. ;3


	33. One fish, two fish.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harmony's secret is out.

“And then you… Harmony, are you even listening?”

I snapped out of my blank staring contest with my wall and looked over at Logan with a sheepish smile, “Sorry Logan.”

He frowned closing the textbook on his lap, “Is something wrong?”

I chuckled casually, easily hiding my nerves, “No, why would you think that?”

“You know your eyebrow twitches when you lie, right?”

I sighed playing with the sleeve of my baggy sweater. I thought hard about what to say. It didn’t seem right to tell Logan this huge secret before I told Virgil but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to tell Virgil yet… or at all, even though I know that’s not really an option. 

I hesitantly looked back at the mildly worried expression of my friend, “Logan, you’re definitely the most logical of the group.” He raised his eyebrows in confusion. “So you could give me a solution to my problem without all the unnecessary feelings, right?”

“Possibly,” He said warily. 

I bit my lip before sighing, “Okay, well… I have Polycystic ovary syndrome, so it’s not uncommon that I miss a period every now and again. So when I missed mine a couple months back, I didn’t think anything of it. Until, two more months went by…” I risked a glance up to see Logan looking at me in realization. “It didn’t hit me until I examined my behavoir after Virgil’s incident. So I panicked and took like three pregnancy tests and…”

“They were all positive…” I nodded hugging my arms around myself. “Does anyone else know?” I shook my head. “Okay, well logical answer is to tell your boyfriend who is obviously the father of this child.”

“I can’t,” I protested getting up to pace back and forth.

I saw him shoot me a confused look, “Why not?”

I sighed turning to him, “Virgil is literally the embodiment of anxiety! He’d freak out if I told him.”

Logan watched me pace back and forth with a slight frown, “Harmony, you’re not giving Virge much credit. He’s gotten significantly better at controlling his anxiety. You need to tell him.”

I rubbed my arms nervously, “What am I supposed to say to him Logan!? We’ve barely talked about kids! And the one time we did was me telling him that I might be completely infertile! I don’t know how he’d react to this! But I needed to tell someone before I actually lose my mind debating over if I should tell him or not!”

Logan sighed, “You know I’m probably the worst person to tell, right? While I may be better at understanding emotions and social cues now that we’re basically human, I’m still not able to tell you what to do in this situation. You may want a logical answer to your problem but the best answer would be from someone who knows emotions.” I gave him a hesitant but understanding nod. “I’ll call Patton, okay? It seems we won’t be getting much studying done anyway.”

He pulled out his phone as he stepped into the hallway. I sat back down on my bed and laid back to stare at the ceiling. 

This seemed all too surreal. I hadn’t even thought about having kids in a long while. It had been months since Virgil and I discussed it and the thought hadn’t crossed my mind in the midst of moving and starting school. While I knew the risks of not being on birth control, I honestly thought I would be infertile like my aunt, considering I took after her in a lot of ways. We’d used condoms of course but I guess that whole ‘not 100 percent effective’ thing really wanted to bite me in the ass.

I groaned covering my face with my hands. This wasn’t supposed to happen! Virgil and I’s apartment was one bedroom, not to mention I’d have to juggle college and a baby, and our jobs only covered so many extra expenses.

“Harm?”

I sat up removing my hands to see Patton giving me a worried look, “You got here fast.”

“I was just up the road at a bakery. Now what’s going on? Logan said you needed help with something that was out of his expertise but wouldn’t tell me what.”

I don’t know why, maybe stress, maybe pregnancy hormones, but tears rushed down my face and a small sob left my mouth making Patton’s eyes widen. He rushed over and sat next to me, hugging me to him and rubbing my back comfortingly. He shushed me and helped me calm down within a minute or two before pulling away to give me an even more concerned look.

I bit the inside of my lip for a moment before blowing out a breath and preparing myself for the worst, “I’m pregnant.”

Patton blinked… and then blinked again…

I frowned in worry scooting back a bit, “Patton? Are you-”

“Oh my god! That’s so exciting! You’re gonna be a mom! And Virge is gonna be a dad! Oh my gosh, that’s so cute!” 

I chuckled weakly at his excited rambling. Logan finally decided to step back into the room raising an eyebrow at his boyfriend, who was bouncing on my bed.

“Why did I have a feeling he would react like this?”

I smiled slightly, “This  **is** Patton we’re talking about.”

Patton finally calmed down enough to where he was just smiling widely at me, “So what’s the problem?”

“She doesn’t know how to tell Virgil. She’s worried his anxiety will flare and that he’ll quote unquote ‘freak out’.”

Patton then frowned, “When did you find out?”

I looked away, “A week after Virgil came back from the hospital.”

Logan’s eyes bugged. “You’ve known for over a week and told no one!?”

I looked down at my lap in shame. I saw Patton shoot Logan a glare before he began rubbing my back in comfort.

“And how far along are you exactly?”

“About 20 weeks…”

“And you haven’t bothered to go to a doctor yet? You’re really starting off swell. ”

“Logan,” Patton hissed lowly glaring at him again, “You’re not helping.”

“No,” I interrupted before they could start a trivial fight over nothing, “Logan’s right. Even if I don’t want to tell Virgil just yet, I need to be aware that I’m carrying a baby and need to have things checked out.”

Patton frowned, “So, I’m guessing you plan to keep the child.”

I hesitated before nodding with a small smile, “I always dreamed about being a mom someday. I kind of gave up on that idea when they told me I had PCOS. I’d honestly thought that I’d just adopt a child whenever I was ready. But…” My hand covered the medium sized bump on my lower stomach, “I guess fate has other ideas for me.”

Patton smiled, “Well if you’d like Logan and I can help you set up an appointment to get checked out.”

I looked between them with furrowed brows, “Really?” It dawned on me slightly. “You’re not gonna tell Virgil, are you?! I know I should tell him, but I’m just really worried and-”

“Calm down,” Patton interrupted with a small chuckle. “We won’t tell Virge. That’s your job.”

I blew out a sigh of relief, “Thank you. I swear I’ll tell him soon.”

“How about this,” Logan started with his usual cool and calm expression, “After we take you to your appointment, if everything goes well, you have to tell Virgil.”

I bit the inside of my lip in indecision, “I don’t-”

“Harmony, we both know if you don’t make this promise you’re not going to tell him until he realizes it himself.”

I sighed in defeat, “Fine. I promise to tell him after my first appointment.”

Patton cheered before smiling, “It’ll be alright Harm.”

I smiled weakly as Patton ushered me to my computer to look up places nearby.

+_+_+_+_+_+_+

I tapped my foot anxiously playing with the hem of Virgil’s sweatshirt. Logan was reading a magazine next to me glancing at me every so often.

“Harmony Daniels?” The nurse called as she stepped out of the door.

I stood up with Logan following. We walked back into a doctor’s room and I sat down on the examination table. I tapped my fingers on my leg and continued to mess with the sweatshirt.

Logan chuckled making me look over at him, “And you’re worried about Virgil’s anxiety?”

I rolled my eyes shooting him a drop dead look, “I have every right to be nervous.”

“I’m not saying you don’t. I’m just hinting that you might be overexaggerating Virgil’s nerves to cover your own.”

I chuckled, “I’m telling you he’s not going to be the cheerful ray of sunshine you’re making him out to be.”

Then a doctor with peppered brown hair and bright blue eyes entered, “Hello there,” She greeted cheerfully.

I smiled, “Hi.”

She sat down in the rolling chair that was sat next to a computer, “Okay, so it says here that you have PCOS.” I nodded. “And you haven’t been on birth control?” I shook my head. She hummed, “And according to my nurse who checked you out before, there’s no doubt you’re pregnant.” She turned and smiled at me, “Welp, we can get an ultrasound done to tell you exactly how far along you are and make sure the baby is okay. Follow me.”

I got up following with Logan behind me. They got us all set up before another male came in and began the ultrasound. I simply stared at the ceiling unsure of how I would react if I looked.

“Well, there’s another surprise.” I looked up my eyes widened at what I saw on the screen. The male doctor smiled at me, “Congrats! Looks like you’re having twins!”

I was able to bury my fear and smile weakly, “Wow… I…”

The female doctor, named Maria, smiled at me, “Would you like to know the genders?” I simply nodded unable to use my voice because of the pure emotions flooding through me. 

The male doctor moved the wand around humming in concentration, “It looks like… two girls! Congrats again!”

I swallowed hard feeling everything from pure elation to groudshaking fear. We finished up the appointment with Logan doing most of the talking and them handing me a picture of the ultrasound. We went back out to the car and just sat for a minute.

“Harm, are you okay?” Logan questioned putting a hand on my shoulder. 

I looked at him for a moment before looking back at the ultrasound picture, “I…” I blew out a breath of slight shock, “I don’t think I could be any happier than I am right now. I’m going to have two little girls of my own!” A giddy smile crossed my face as I looked back at Logan who gave me a small smile. “I’m going to have children after years of thinking I wouldn’t be able to! I’m going to have two little girls to raise!” I laughed happily before calming to a simple smile, “I just hope Virgil will be as happy as I am.”

Logan let out a breath of laughter as he started the car, “I’m sure he’ll be happy.”

We drove back with me rambling on and on excitedly. Logan was kind enough to put up with it. He dropped me off and I headed up to my apartment, thinking of ways to make this a little special.

I thought of a rather simple way, which I know Virgil would appreciate, but still a surprise. I set up the camera on the tv stand facing the couch and started recording when I heard Virgil’s friend from work drop him off. I gave a thumbs up and sat down on the couch pretending to be looking at something on my phone.

The door opened and closed before Virgil came around the corner with a tired smile, “Hey.”

I smiled back, “Hey, how was work?”

He kissed me quickly before raising an eyebrow at the notebook, specifically  **his** notebook, on the coffee table, “Boring. Why’s this out here? I thought I put it in the room.”

Shrugging, I smiled, “Must have gotten moved. But you did promise to show me that poem you made.”

He chuckled grabbing the notebook and opening it. He stopped when he got to the last page he had written on, blinking at the ultrasound picture that was face down in the book. He furrowed his brow shooting me a questioning look before picking it up and turning it over. He froze completely as he took in the picture, that included my name and today’s date. 

He looked over at me with wide, unreadable eyes. I smiled weakly before frowning as he looked back to the picture. We continued to sit in a dead silence until I spoke.

“Please say something,” I pleaded with tears started to form in my eyes.

“Something.”

I rolled my eyes, “Virgil, I’m serious!”

“Hi, serious. I’m going to be a dad.”

Both of our eyes widened as we took in what he just said. I snorted before laughing loudly before Virgil put a hand over my mouth.

“You cannot tell Patton!”

I licked his hand making him pull it away to wipe it on the couch. I then smirked, “I won’t tell him.” I waited till I saw him let out breath of relief before continuing, “I’ll just show him the video.” I got up and grabbed the camera pointing it at his shocked face before turning it back to me, “Now I’m going to shut this off before Virgil kills me.”

I turned off the video and set the camera down before sitting on the couch next to Virgil who was looking at the picture with a small smile. I leaned my head on his shoulder smiling at the picture as well.

“How long have you known?”

“Almost two weeks.”

I reluctantly pulled my head up when he turned to me with a frown, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

I played with the hem of his sweatshirt that I hadn’t bothered to change out of yet while avoiding looking his face, “I… I was scared and nervous and a whole other slew of emotions. I-I didn’t know what to do. It’s so sudden and unexpected. Especially after I spent years believing I’d never be able to conceive kids. I-I just…” I forced myself to look at him with a small smile, “I didn’t realize it until after your hospital trip and when I did I panicked. I was just thinking about all the things that could go wrong. I thought you’d start panicking.”

Virgil smiled softly reaching a hand up to carress my cheek, “Hope, while I will admit I’m a little concerned about what’s going to happen next, I couldn’t be happier. We live on our own and we’re at the age most people start thinking about kids.”

I kissed him quickly before pulling back  to smile at him, “I’m guessing you have questions.”

“Yeah, first one is how the hell do you see anything in this picture?”

I blinked, “Wait, you can’t tell anything by this picture?” He shook his head and I smiled amusedly, “Well, then there’s another surpised for you. We’re having twins.”

He blinked at me. “As in two?”

“No, as in six,” I said sarcastically earning a light shove. I chuckled, “Yeah, as in two.”

He looked back at the picture and I pointed out where each of the babies were. 

“Do we know genders yet?”

I nodded, “Two girls.”

He let out a groan, “That’s gonna suck when they get to the hormone age!”

I giggled kissing his cheek, “Just think, you can teach them how to put eye shadow on like a pro.”

He rolled his eyes but was still smiling widely, “This might sound weird. But can I see your stomach?”

I chuckled nervously, playing with the bottom of his sweatshirt, “It’s not that interesting.”

“It’s interesting to me.”

I sighed in defeat leaning back against the arm of the couch and reluctantly lifting my shirt to reveaal the already large bump. 

Virgil’s eyes widened, “How the hell did you hide that?”

I shot him a sour look, “Are you implying that I’m fat?”

He rolled his eyes, “Of course not Hope. You look amazing.” 

He then leaned and rested his head on my stomach. I smiled as he kissed around my stomach before coming up to kiss my lips. I kissed back putting my hand on his cheek. 

He pulled away and smiled softly at me, “I really couldn’t be happier Hope.”

I smiled back running a hand across his cheekbone, “Same here. I always thought I’d never have kids and now I’m pregnant with two little girls.”

“We’ll have to have a serious talk later about everything but for now, I just want to enjoy this.”

I nodded in agreement pulling him in for another kiss.

I know the next 20 or so weeks was going to be rough but I’m willing to go through it. After all, I’ve always been family oriented. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all! Sorry for the long wait, have been sick with the flu. I'm getting better though. Anyway I hope you enjoyed the chapter, was it fluffy enough for ya? Lol, now for the long list of people who guessed what the secret was!
> 
> Wattpad: AutumnSchwartz, Ralitsi, Genie_Gray, and Rosiearmy.
> 
> Archive of Our Own: GuardianCherisher and Lightseed. 
> 
> Thank you to everyone who guessed! I will take this as a compliment to my foreshadowing skills, that may be a little too obvious lol. Hope you all enjoy the next couple chapters, they are tooth rotting so get prepared.


	34. Telling the boys

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harmony and Virgil find a cute way to tell their friends about the pregnancy.

 

“Are you sure about this?”

Virgil smiled slightly in amusement, “Hope, we can’t exactly hide it from them.”

I sighed, “I know, I know. I’m just worried.”

He pulled me into a loving kiss before smiling down at me, “Everything will be fine.”

I smiled back, “Okay.”

He pulled me into the house still carrying the large bag of presents. We headed to the living room and were greeted by everybody. Thomas had organized a get together for a video game night which Virgil and I decided would be the best time to tell them. 

“Hey, guys! We brought gifts.”

“Ooh gimme!” Mark said pausing the game of Mario Kart.

I chuckled handing him the gift bag with his name on it, “Don’t open them till everyone gets their’s.”

Virgil and I passed out the gifts before he sat down in the arm chair and I sat on his lap. 

Virgil smiled rubbing my thigh to help me relax, “Alright. Open them.”

Mark was the first to open his and pull out the baby onesie with an extremely confused expression, “‘I love my gay uncle’?” His eyes widened in realization as he looked at me, “No…”

“‘My uncle’s a real prince’,” Roman read his smirking slightly.

Thomas had teary eyes as he read his with a chuckle, “‘If you think I’m dramatic, you should meet my uncle’.”

Logan chuckled at his, “‘I was born a smart ass, you can thank my uncle’.”

“‘Cute and cuddly, I take after my uncle’,” Patton said with an awe. 

Thomas was the first one up to give me a tight hug. I chuckled standing up as well and hugging everyone, even Logan who was a bit reluctant. I took my jacket off allowing them to awe and chuckle over my skeleton pregnancy shirt. I sat back down on Virgil’s lap leaning back against him. 

“Oh my god,” Thomas said wiping his eyes. “When did you find out?”

“About a week after Virgil got out of the hospital.”

Mark chuckled, “And you’ve waited three weeks to tell us?”

I rolled my eyes, “Give me a break. I was panicking.”

“Hey, I only found out last week and I’m the father.”

I smirked at him, “You’re lucky Logan and Patton convinced me to tell you at all.”

“Hold up! Why did they get to know first!?” Roman shouted putting a hand on his chest dramatically.

“Yeah! I was your friend first!” Thomas shouted jokingly.

Mark gave him a look of mock offense, “Excuse me?! You were first?!”

I laughed at their mock glares towards each other, “Okay, guys, seriously! Logan only found out cause he called me out on my lie. I asked him for an opinion on telling Virgil and he suggested going to Patton which is why he found out next.”

“Oh yeah!” Patton exclaimed suddenly making Roman jump beside him, “How did your appointment go? You never did get around to telling me and Logan refused to.”

I smiled slightly, “Well, there’s some surprising news. I’m having twins.”

“Twins?!” Mark exclaimed with a shell shocked look. “First of all, you’re unexpectedly pregnant and then you tell us there’s two buns in the oven!? Damn Harm, when you get knocked up, you sure get  **knocked up** .”

I laughed at that as Virgil’s hand began to rub circles into my stomach, “Yep, I’m going to have two little girls.”

Thomas chuckled, “Have fun when they get to the hormone age.”

“That’s what I said!”

We all laughed at that before I snatched Mark’s controller and began to try to beat Thomas and Roman. I won pretty easily, which was most likely due to Virgil tossing a pillow at Roman just before we crossed the finish line. We continued to play with Virgil sneaking kisses whenever he could. 

He’d been awfully intimate lately, most likely because of my touch aversion finally fading. It was nice to be able to cuddle with him again. Now there’s just the feat of telling my subscribers and my family. Virgil and I had been going back and forth on how to tell them, but everything he suggested just seemed like it would go wrong. I knew I was being a bit stubborn about telling them, but the last time one of their daughters announced her pregnancy there was a huge blowout between my parents and my siblings. Granted that was years ago and Kayla was 17 at the time, but that didn’t make this any less scary. 

I had finally reconnected with my parents and got over years of pent up emotion, and then suddenly I’m pregnant. It seemed like Virgil and I’s relationship took leaps when we least expected it to. Everything in our relationship has been slightly sudden and almost never planned. It’s worrying but at the same time, I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

I gave the controller back to Mark and turned to snuggle my face into Virgil’s chest. He chuckled wrapping his arms around me securely. I hummed contently shutting my eyes and breathing in the familiar scent of smoke and some distant hint of cologne. 

At least for now, I was going to enjoy some peace and not think about the days to come. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ______________________
> 
> Hey y'all! Just a short filler chapter before the big fluffy one. For those who are wondering, I already have names and looks picked out for our lovely little babies. Sorry to anyone who had suggestions but me and my sis came up with two cute names for the girls and I have to keep them. 
> 
> Also just a fair warning, this book will be ending soon. It'll be similar to how I ended my G!Sans story. There will be a few fluffy chapters, then the birth, then a little skip ahead to the future. After that, I will be posting a collab book with my sister. (She will only be tagged in wattpad since that is her only account.) It's going to be a Harry Potter book that takes place with the Golden Trio's kids. I will explain more later if you have any major questions in the comments. Anyway, thanks for viewing!


	35. The Reveal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgil and Harmony finally shoot the big reveal for Harmony's channel and tell Harm's family.

 

I blew out a nervous breath as I checked the angle for probably the fifth time. 

Virgil smiled grabbing my hand and pulling me to sit on the couch next to him, “Look at me.” I complied looking into his brown eyes. “Everything will be fine.”

I smiled, “I know. I’m just so worried about filming this and then immediately going to tell my family.”

He kissed me quickly, “I love you.”

“I love you too. Now let’s get this started.” I took in calm breath turning to the camera and waving, “Hey melodies! Today’s video is going to be a pretty big announcement, that I have been foreshadowing on my twitter.”

“A little too much,” Virgil chimed in with a teasing smile.

I swatted his arm lightly before smiling at the camera, “Anyway, the big news is… I’m pregnant! With twins!” I did jazz hands jokingly before chuckling. “I found out about a month ago and decided it was time to share it with my lovely subscribers. So for today’s video, since my pregnancy was very unexpected and I didn’t get a proper baby shower, we are going to do a mom and dad trivia game. I have written 10 random trivia thingies that I got from a baby shower site and we’re going to answer them.”

Virgil smiled grabbing the paper. “First question is does the couple have any pet names for each other? If so which ones?”

I hummed in thought looking at Virgil, “I mean, I call you babe sometimes but other than that, no.”

“Same here. The only special name I call her is her real name which isn’t technically a pet name.”

I chuckled before looking at the paper, “Next question is what is the mom’s biggest craving? Ooh!” I smiled at the camera, “I have no idea why, cause honestly I used to hate it, but I love fries dipped in strawberry milkshake. Oh god! They’re so good!”

Virgil rolled his eyes before giving the camera a serious look, “You have no idea how many times I’ve had to run out at 5 in the goddamn morning to get a milkshake and fries for this woman.”

I snickered kissing his cheek, “You love me.”

“Sure, I do. Next question!” He looked at the paper squinting slightly. “How did the mom tell the dad they were expecting? No!” He laid his head back with a groan.

I giggled, “Well, I actually have a video of me telling Virgil and you all will  **love** it! I’ll put it in real quick.” We paused for a second so I had a gap for editing before I smiled at Virgil teasingly, “You made a dad joke before our babies even got here!”

He groaned sitting up to glare at me before looking back to the camera, “Not only does she shock me with an ultrasound picture, causing me to react  **in shock** , but she then reveals she’s been recording the entire time!”

I laughed lightly at him kissing his cheek again, “I love you~.” I turned back to the paper, “Next question! How many kids does the couple plan to have?”

Virgil let out a hum, “We never really discussed it. The only talk we had about kids was when Harm told me she might be infertile and look where that got us!”

I chuckled tilting my head, “I don’t know. I come from a pretty big family so I know the horrors of having too many siblings. We’re already gonna have two girls on our hands so question is, do we want more?”

Virgil shrugged, “I think I’d be content with two girls, but I also wouldn’t mind having a boy.”

I smiled a bit with my eyes widened, “I don’t know. Going through this process again already seems like hell and I haven’t even gone through labor yet.”

“How about we answer as undecided then?” I nodded in agreement before he looked at the page. “Potential names for the baby?” He looked back at me with a small frown, “That’s another thing we haven’t discussed much.”

I nodded giving the camera an awkward smile, “Truth be told we haven’t been able to discuss much about this pregnancy.” I gave Virgil a smile, “I’d kind of like it if one of them started with V, like your name.”

He smiled kissing my nose, “You’re so cheesy. But that doesn’t sound bad.” His eyes suddenly lit up. “Ooh! Can we have one that’s a virtue name like yours?”

I hesitated, a mixture of both shock and reluctance filling me. To be perfectly honest, I would be slightly scared of naming my child anything similar to my name. I mean, look at how many years I resented my name because of what it represented. Hell, I literally had everyone aside from my family call me a totally different name that I still use to this day. The mere thought of one of my daughters growing up to hate her own name is enough to break my heart.

“Hope?” I blinked back to reality to see Virgil giving me a worried look. He tilited his head putting a hand on my cheek, “You okay?”

I forced a smile, “Yeah, you just kind of shocked me there.” I gave the camera a joking smile, “I guess me and Virgil will have a lot to talk about later.”

“Next question, I guess. Who is more likely to forget the baby someplace? Harmony.”

“Me.”

We chorused at the same time with matching smiles. We both laughed at that before continuing on with a lighter atmosphere.

“What is the color they have picked for the baby’s room? Okay so,” I paused for a moment to collect my thoughts before speaking. “As you may know, we had just moved into an apartment recently before the pregnancy and we obviously were not expecting to be expecting so, we only got a one bedroom apartment. So of course, when we realized this we panicked for a moment-”

“More like Harmony panicked and I laughed at her.”

I chuckled slightly before continuing, “So we talked to our landlord about possible options for us and it turns out she has a one floor house that she rents out which was only about 23 dollars more a month. So we jumped at the chance and are currently planning the big move for Saturday. And best part is our landlord is kind enough to let us paint the rooms if we wanted to, so we do get to pick out colors for the twin’s room.”

“This is Harmony’s long winded way of saying, we haven’t gotten that far yet.”

I shoved Virgil lightly as he laughed, “You are so mean to me. Next! When is the exact due date of the baby?”

“It is June 13th. Next is when will the dad let the baby go on a date? Never.”

I laughed loudly at that putting a hand on my stomach, “Don’t worry babies, mama will make sure you get to date before you’re fifty.”

Virgil smiled at me before reading the next question. “Which grew faster, mom’s belly or her butt? Well!” I shot him a warning look which he smiled at. “While I personally believe that Harmony is gorgeous as a pregnant woman… it was definitely her belly.”

I swatted his arm lightly before turning to the paper, “Last question! Who will the baby most likely look like? Oh my god, I hope they have your eyes.”

Virgil gave me a weird look, “Why? They’re brown.”

I smiled at him excitedly, “Brown is way cuter than grey, especially on two little girls with blonde hair!”

Virgil chuckled kissing my forehead, “You’re so cute.”

I smiled kissing him quickly before turning to the camera, “Anyway, that’s it for this special vlog. Thank you so much for watching. Hit that like and subscribe button and I appreciate all of you. Bye!”

I clicked the button on the camera before laying against Virgil with a sigh. He wrapped his arms around me tightly making me smile. 

“That was fun,” He commented as he kissed my hair.

“It was actually. Now comes the fun of telling my family!”

Virgil chuckled kissing my cheek quickly, “Come on. Let’s get ready.”

He stood up first and helped me off the couch as well. I reluctantly followed him to our room where we picked out clothes. He simply went with his usual black tshirt, blue jeans, and purple hoodie combo. I on the other hand have to pick out a pair of grey maternity pants, considering this belly has not let me put on skinny jeans since week 10, and a maternity shirt that Virgil picked out when we went shopping. It was a simple black shirt with a pair of headphones that had the word love spread between the ears. 

Virgil somehow coaxed me into the car, mostly with the promise of watching obscure horror films later and a strawberry milkshake, and we set off to the park where we were meeting my family for a picnic. He stopped on the way and got me a large strawberry milkshake as promised before we made it to the park.

I got out and immediately spotted Caleb who was staring at me, or my stomach, with his jaw dropped. Leon tapped him before he noticed me as well, his face going completely blank as he processed the scene.

I let out a loud snicker as Virgil put an arm around me and started leading me over to my family who had by now all noticed where the shock was coming from and were immediately shocked by it as well. I simply smiled awkwardly at my family with a small shrug.

Kayla was the first to burst into happy tears running around to hug me tightly. I laughed hugging her back as she cried into my shoulder. My mom was next up to hug me then came Caleb then Christine. The twins gave me a tight hug at the same time. And finally Stevie gave me a quick hug before they all attacked Virgil with love. I couldn’t help but laugh at his awkwardness as he was being hugged by both my crying mom and a bawling Kayla.

I nudged Jace with my elbow, “Mind saving my socially awkward boyfriend from your overly emotional girlfriend?”

He chuckled but walked over to gently pull her off. We all sat down at the picnic table where Jessica laid her head on my stomach and leaned against me while she napped. 

“Oh my gosh!” My mom sobbed slightly wiping her face as my dad put an arm around her, “When did you find out and why weren’t we told sooner?!”

I smiled as I ran my fingers through Jessie’s hair, “I found out about a month ago. I totally panicked and didn’t even tell Virgil until I had gone to my first appointment.”

Kayla sniffed loudly as Jace rubbed her shoulder. “How far along are you? Cause you are huge!”

“I’m 26 weeks, so end of second trimester.”

Virgil smiled proudly as he put an arm around me, “And the reason Hope is a little large is because she’s got two buns in the oven.”

Leon nearly spit out his drink, “You knocked my sister up with twins?!”

I burst out laughing as my mom smacked him across the back of his head, “Leon!”

“Sorry! Geez…”

Noel giggled smiling at me in a teasing way, “And you said you’d never have kids.”

My mom chuckled, “That is true. Hope used to think she would be infertile like her aunt Rita.”

Caleb chuckled, “Good luck having two newborns in the house at once. Sophia didn’t get on a good sleeping schedule until she was 10 months.”

My dad shot Virgil a small smirk, “So when are you planning to get married?”

I choked on air as did Virgil as we both coughed awkwardly glancing at each other before looking back to my parents.

“I don’t think marriage should be a priority right now,” I excused quickly.

“Nonsense,” My mother pushed with a wave of her hand. “If you two are really happy with each other and plan to raise two kids together then you should have a nice wedding.”

Virgil smiled awkwardly, “I haven’t thought that far ahead yet. Finding out I’m going to be a dad to two little girls was enough shock for now.”

Kayla chuckled as she noticed that her daughter was sleeping against me, “I see you have the sleeping belly trick.”

I shook my head with a smile, “I am not putting your daughter to sleep on my stomach any time she fusses.”

We continued to talk, mostly about my pregnancy so far and what to expect in labor, which almost made Leon puke. I felt a little more at ease knowing my family accepted my pregnancy as it was. I was happy knowing this journey would be a bit easier. Granted there was still a ton to do and not much time left but hey; we’ve made it this far, right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I finished this like two days ago and meant to post it then but then my stomach started acting up again. I ended up in the hospital for a couple hours last night so I didn't get any time to post. But it's here now. Be warned next chapter is slightly angsty, it had to happen eventually. Thanks for reading!
> 
> P.S. I am having way to much fun picking out maternity shirts.


	36. Finishing touches

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgil and Harm finally agree on baby names and then Mark and Roman help them finish up the babies' room.

 

“Ugh!”

“Okay, that’s it. I’m taking this away before you throw it.”

Virgil grabbed his laptop off my stomach and closed it, setting it on the coffee table. I glared at him harshly as he turned to look at me.

He smiled calmly, “I love you.”

I sighed laying against him, “I’m flying off the handle again, aren’t I?”

“Little bit,” He joked as he wrapped his one arm around my shoulders while his other hand went to rest on my bulging stomach. 

I blew out another sigh snuggling into him as he laid against the arm rest, “I’m sorry. I’m just so stressed out. My due date is two weeks away and we haven’t found any names we even remotely like.”

He kissed the top of my head sweetly, “We’ll find something. But you can’t keep stressing yourself out. It’s not good for the little ones.”

I smiled a bit looking up at him, “It’s still hard to believe that we’re going to be parents. To two little girls.”

He smiled back, “I know.” We rested in silence for a few moments before he grabbed his phone, “How about we try looking for V names for now? We can stress about baby two later.”

I grabbed my phone as well clicking on the name site I had been saved and clicking the letter V. 

“We could name her Vixen.”

Virgil scrunched his nose up at me, “No, I will not tolerate every boy in existence using foxy lady pick up lines on my daughter.”

I laughed at him scrolling down. 

“What about Veronica?”

“Knowing what happens to Veronica Sawyer, no.”

He chuckled, “I’m pretty sure our daughter wouldn’t be dumb enough to date a psychopath.”

“I mean, she is  **your** daughter and you’re dumb enough to date me.”

He kissed my nose, “Dating you was the best decision of my life.”

I giggled before looking back to my phone. After a couple scrolls, a name finally jumped out at me. I clicked on it and scrolled through the origin and description. 

“What about Vanessa?”

Virgil stopped scrolling to look down at me, “I like that. What does it mean though?”

I smiled, “Butterfly. Which would be cute considering we’re decorating the twin’s room like a field.”

He smiled back tilting his head, “It’s cute. I think we have our name for baby one.”

I chuckled giving him a quick kiss before resting my head on his chest, “Now to think of something for the other one.”

Virgil seemed to hesitate for a moment before kissing the top of my head, “I still like the idea of a virtue name. I mean, we have one that starts with a v for me. I’d like to have one that represents you.”

I frowned slightly looking at him hesitantly, “I don’t know Virge. I grew up hating my own name. I don’t like the idea of my daughter despising the sound of her name.”

“You don’t hate it when I say it.”

I hesitated again biting the inside of my cheek, “That’s different.”

“Is it?” I nodded. “Okay, well why do you like it when I say it?”

I blushed slightly looking away from him, “You know why…”

“Well, I want to hear it again.”

I sighed through my nose burying my face in his chest, “I like it when you say it cause it doesn’t make me think of how I failed at being hope. The way you say it makes me feel like I was hope for someone.”

“Because you  **are** my hope.” He gently lifted my head so I was looking at him. “I may be human now but my origin isn’t exactly pleasant. I’m literally a disorder. I’m something meant to crush people’s hopes, I’m made to ruin things. But now I… I’m able to be more than just an unwanted disorder. I was never meant to feel happiness, or be able to have someone as amazing as you to call my own. Loving somone and trusting them enough to build a life together is something I could’ve only dreamed of. And it wouldn’t have even been for me. I was a part of Thomas, I didn’t get to have dreams of my own. I didn’t get to feel anything besides fear and worry, because that’s what I was meant to cause.” He smiled as he ran his fingers through my hair. “I don’t know why we appeared that day, but somehow it gave us the ability to feel more than we were meant to. I mean, look at Logan. He never had feelings before and most days he was the one to try to bring Patton down from his constantly optimistic state. Now they’re together and they help each other with all these new things we are expirencing. Roman was only meant to dream up scenarios and help with inspiration. Now he’s dating Mark and he’s become rather grounded with reality. Patton used to feel uncontrollably, he was never able to see logic in things. But Logan was able to help him learn how to be serious and think about things without feelings getting in the way. And me? I’ve never been more hopeful then when I look at you and realize we can build a life together. We’re going to have two wonderful little girls, we’re literally sitting in a house that we rent together, and one day I can con you into marrying me and I’ll get to see you walk down the aisle in a stunning dress. I’ll be able to live the dreams that I made Thomas stress about. I will never let you think you failed at being hope, because you’ve made me so hopeful about the future. I no longer just stress about how things can go wrong. I’m hopeful because you gave me hope just by being there for me. Because you loved me. And I love you in return, Hope.”

I smiled wrapping my arms around his neck and burying my face in his shoulder as tears of joy ran down my face rapidly. He held me tightly as well kissing me wherever he could reach. We stayed like that for a bit just enjoying the fact that we had each other, that we were together, that we had two little girls on the way.

“Faith.”

“Hm?”

I finally looked up with a wobbly smile, “I want to name her Faith. Because you were the one who made me faithful again. After Taylor, I genuinely thought I would be alone and broken forever but then you popped into my life. Somehow despite only being familiar with making people worry and stress, you made me feel like I could do something with my life. You helped me through my depression, you made me fall in love again, you pushed me to get help, you supported me in my decision to go back to school, you’ve stayed with me through everything… You made me faithful and confident that I could make it through my life without just stumbling through it.” I leaned my forehead against his. “You loved me through everything that came at us. If I get to represent your hope, then I want our child to represent the faith that you gave me.”

He smiled, “I love you.”

I smiled back, “I love you too.”

We kissed happily enjoying our moment while it lasted. 

We broke apart when there was a knock at the door, signalling the arrival of Mark and Roman who were coming over to help us finish setting up the kids rooms. I tried to get up but only succeeded in falling back to the couch. Virgil snickered at me getting up and helping me. I went to the door opening it and giving Mark and Roman quick hugs.

“How are you today mom to be?”

I smiled at Roman, “So much better now that we picked out names.”

“Ooh! What are they?”

I smiled teasingly, “You’ll find out in two weeks.”

Mark groaned, “You suck.”

“She does indeed.”

I blushed lightly laughing at Roman’s disgusted face, “TMI Virge, TMI.”

I hit Virgil’s arm lightly as I passed him, “Be quiet mister, or I won’t do any more  _ favors _ for you.”

“That works two ways missy.” He smacked my butt making me squeal and speed up. 

We walked into the light blue colored room where paint and brushed were laid out. 

“Okay, so we have to paint grass on the bottom still and then a tree. Sounds simple.”

Mark chuckled, “Says the girl who can’t paint for shit.”

I rolled my eyes, “I can only have so many talents Mark.”

Virgil smiled wrapping his arms around my middle from behind and kissing my cheek, “Why don’t you and Roman go finish putting together the cribs? Mark and I can handle this.” I nodded and he gave Roman a serious look. “Do not let her lift anything too heavy.”

I pursed my lips at him, “I’m not five, you know.”

Roman chuckled grabbing my hand, “Come on. Let’s leave the boys to their work.”

I let him pull me out of the room and to the garage where a half finished crib was sitting with another still in the box against the wall. Roman grabbed the instructions while I leaned against the work bench with a sigh.

“Tired?”

I nodded putting a hand on my stomach, “I haven’t been able to get much sleep lately. I’m either too busy with schoolwork or my daughters have decided to play ‘let’s kick each other until mom cries from frustration’.”

Roman chuckled as he started screwing in one of the safety bars, “I can only imagine. But you’ll have two wonderful princesses to show for all this stress.”

I smiled, “Yeah, Virgil and I are still arguing over looks.”

“Don’t tell me it’s still about them having brown or grey eyes.”

“It is indeed. He keeps saying that brown eyes are too common and not romanticized enough. And he doesn’t even listen when I say that grey eyes are boring and only romanticized on guys.”

He let out a huff of laughter, “I’m betting one has grey and one has brown. They have probably sensed you arguing and are like ‘let’s make them both happy’.”

I laughed lightly, “I’m just glad that the twins are fraternal. Can you imagine all the pranks Mark would teach them if they looked exactly the same?”

“He actually mentioned it before you revealed that they were fraternal.”

“I could guess. He and his brother Marvin used to prank me all the time back in Pennsylvania.”

Roman shot me a smirk, “From what I hear, you weren’t exactly shy about getting them back for it.”

I smirked back, “You didn’t expect me to take it quietly, did you?”

“From what I’ve heard late at night back when we lived together, you don’t take anything quietly,” Roman teased as he finished the one crib.

I scoffed with a slight smile, “We didn’t do it that often at the house!”

“But the times you did were enough for nightmares.”

I chuckled, “Oh hush. Like you weren’t screaming like a girl when Mark topped you.”

He blushed lightly narrowing his eyes at me, “He told you every detail, didn’t he?”

I smirked, “Down to where you begged him not to stop when he paused for a nanosecond.”

Roman groaned, “Remind me to smack my boyfriend when I get the chance.”

“Will do.”

“But I guess that’s just what our boyfriends do. I mean after all, yours wasn’t exactly quiet about your little slip up one night.”

I blushed deeply glaring at him, “I have no idea what you are talking about.”

“Really? Cause Virgil seems to remember you being particullarly mad while he was laughing at your embarrassment of calling him daddy.”

I groaned, “Okay, hold up! It was not like that!”

“Sure it wasn’t.”

“It was an accident!”

He chuckled, “Obviously you had some fantasies about it dear.”

I growled at him before chuckling. “Okay so maybe it wasn’t an accident. But I had to know how Virgil would react to it. It was a heat of the moment thing and I regretted it instantly.”

Roman calmed his laughter to shoot me a smile, “Don’t worry, Mark did the same thing.”

“Great minds think alike.” I then smirked at him, “Although his next experiment turned out rather pleasant, didn’t it?”

He gave him a look of suspicioun, “What did he tell you?”

“Nothing, nothing.” There was a pause before I smirked devilishly. “ _ My king _ .”

He choked on air and gave me a look of embarrassment, “He did not!”

I laughed loudly putting a hand on my stomach, “Oh yes he did!”

“Who did what now?”

I smirked at Virgil as he and Mark stepped into the garage, “I was just informing Roman that I knew of his kink.”

“It’s not a kink!”

Mark smirked coming to wrap his arms around Roman’s waist, “Really now? Cause I seem to remember this cute little whine that would disagree with you.”

Roman huffed indignantly turning his head away, “It  _ wasn’t _ a kink until some little devil decided to moan it during sex.”

Mark chuckled leaning his face close to his ear, “You know you love it, my king.”

Roman let out a small noise of embarrassment turning to hide his face in Mark’s chest. Virgil came to stand next to me wrapping an arm around my shoulders before realization dawned on his face.

He narrowed his eyes at Roman with a small scowl, “I distinctly remember you making my girlfriend call you that using blackmail.”

Roman rolled his eyes, “It wasn’t a kink back then Virgil. It was just something I liked hearing.”

Virgil bared his teeth at him with a growl. As much as I hate to admit it, it had been a minute since I’ve seen Virgil get jealous, and it seemed even hotter than usual. Honestly, ever since I hit my third trimester, I had been so needy, in more ways than one. 

Mark smirked suddenly with a knowing look, “Hey Roman, can you come out to the car with me to get the brushes I bought?”

Roman gave him a weird look but nodded, “We’ll be back in a bit.”

They left after Mark shot me a wink making me smirk back at him. As soon as the door closed, I snapped. I turned to Virgil and grabbed his shirt collar pulling his lips down to mine roughly. He let out a surprised moan before relaxing and wrapping his arms around me. He slipped his tongue into my mouth as he lifted me onto the work bench situating himself between my legs. I suddenly grinded into him, absolutely desperate for some friction. He groaned as he pulled back from my lips to kiss my throat. He bit down gently making my breath hitch as I gripped his shoulders tightly. 

“You’re mine and only mine, got it?” He growled as started to toy with my overly sensitive breasts.

I moaned softly nodding instantly. “Yours.” My voice was nothing but an airy whine full of pure need. 

He hummed against my neck finding different spots to bite and mark with bruises, “Say it again.”

“I’m yours and only yours.”

He came back to roughly kiss my lips gripping my hips tightly. 

“Alright, we’re back.” 

I let out a groan as Virgil pulled away, both of us panting like dogs. Mark stood in the doorway with a smirk while Roman was next to him with messy hair and fresh hickey on his neck. 

“You’re mine later,” Virgil growled in my ear making me nod eagerly. 

He kissed my cheek quickly before Mark dragged him back to painting. I caught my breath as Roman began working on the next crib. 

Roman then gave me a smirk, “Seems like you have a kink yourself missy.”

I surprised him by smirking back instead of being embarrassed, “What girl doesn’t love being completely dominated by her boyfriend?”

He rolled his eyes as I laughed loudly. We continued to chat while he finished up with the crib and the changing table. After Virgil and Mark finished up the room, we started moving it all in and setting it up. We got it decorated before Mark and Roman had to head home.

For a moment I just stood in the kids room putting a hand on the white crib and smiling softly. Arms wrapped around my stomach from behind as Virgil leaned his head on my shoulder. 

“I’m scared,” I broke the silence in a soft voice.

“I know. I am too. But the doctor said this should be a smooth delivery and that our babies are perfectly healthy.”

I blew out a breath through my nose leaning my head against his, “What if something goes wrong Virge? Or what if I screw up when they’re growing up?”

“Hope, look at me.” I turned around looking up at him helplessly. “Everything will be fine. You’re an extraordinary woman and I know you will be an amazing mom to our daughters.” 

I smiled wrapping my arms around his neck, “Then you, sir, will be an even more amazing dad. Don’t think just because I’m stressing over me that I don’t notice you doing the same.”

He smiled softly, “I thought I was doing a good job at hiding it.”

I leaned up and kissed him softly before pulling back to smile at him, “You already an amazing boyfriend. I have no doubt you’ll be an amazing father as well.”

He chuckled kissing my forehead, “Thank you.” His smile turned mischievous, “Now, where were we before we were so rudely interupted?”

I chuckled kissing him deeply. 

I wasn’t about to lie and say my worries over everything are magically fixed, but having Virgil around to help me really did ease my mind. I knew that no matter what happened, he’d be here every step of the way. And I loved him for it. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, only two more (planned) chapters to go. I hope you guys like the kids' names I picked out. My sister and I thought of them in a brainstorming session.


	37. Time to have some babies.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harmony heads to the hospital to have her little girls.

I blew out a nervous breath as I quickly got changed into the hospital gown. Today was the big day. In just a few hours I’m going to have two little girls. 

I exited spotting Virgil adjusting the pillow on the bed. “It’s really happening.”

He smiled walking over and gently guiding me to the bed, “It is. At least you were smart enough to ask for a C section instead of trying to push two babies out.”

I nodded leaning back against the pillows, “It’s safer that way. For both me and the twins.”

There was a knock on the door before our nurse, Jason entered, “Hey guys! Ready for some pitocin?”

I nodded, “I’m ready for these babies to be out of me.”

He chuckled as he cleaned my arm and opened the needle, “I can’t even fathom how women do this all the time.”

“It wasn’t exactly our plan either,” Virgil joked as he held my hand. 

I looked over at him wincing when the needle pricked into my skin. He set up the IV and all the moniters before leaving. I sighed deeply leaning back against the pillows.

“You okay?”

I smiled at Virgil, “I’m fine so far. When the contractions hit though, your hand will be broken.”

He chuckled, “It’s the price I pay for knocking you up.”

I chuckled before wincing as a light pressure built in my lower stomach and back. Virgil kissed my cheek and forehead as I breathed lightly through the very slight but persistant pain. 

“I still vote they have your eyes.”

I scoffed at him, “I told you, my hair and your eyes. Blonde is much better than brown hair and brown eyes are much better than grey.”

Virgil chuckled kissing me quickly, “I love you.”

I smiled, “I love you too.”

We spent the next hour talking and breathing through contractions. And soon enough it was time for me to go back. We had agreed I’d go back alone because of Virgil’s anxiety. Granted he only had a couple panic attacks during this pregnancy but we both didn’t want to risk it. I kissed Virgil for a long moment before they wheeled me off. Luckily Patton and Logan were already here to make sure Virgil didn’t freak out. I sent a silent prayer, which I didn’t do often, that everything would be okay.

+_+_+_+_+_+_+

Virgil came through the door and immediately raced to my side, “Are you okay!?”

I smiled sleepily at him, “Yeah. They took the girls back for testing real quick but they’ll be back with them soon.”

He kissed my temple for a long moment, “Everything went fine? Nothing major happened?”

I shook my head, “Our babies looked perfectly healthy and I’m fine.”

I looked over at the door as it opened revealing Jason and our doctor Donna holding two pink blanket swadled babies. I sat up more with Virgil’s help and Jason handed me the first little girl. Her eyes were open revealing bright brown orbs and she had little tufts of blonde hair on her head. I smiled as tears filled my eyes. I looked over at Virgil and the sight was enough to make my tears fall.

Virgil was smiling softly at our second little girl who had thick brown hair already on her head. Her eyes were closed so I couldn’t tell what her eye color was. But she was immensely gorgeous. 

Donna smiled happily, “What are the names for these two cuties?”

I smiled at her before looking down at the angel in my arms, “Vanessa for this one.”

“And Faith for our second little wonder,  Virgil finished, his voice thick with emotion.

Donna nodded with a smile, “Congratulations you two. You’ll have to stay overnight and possibly for the next day two after we see how your stitches are.”

I nodded before they left and our large group came in. Mark was the first one next to me leaning against the bed and smiling at Vanessa. Thomas was next to come on my other side aweing at the sight.

“God she’s adorable,” Mark said with a slight sniffle.

Thomas smiled, “What is her name?”

“Vanessa.”

“Oh my god, that’s so perfect for her.”

I nodded before looking over at the corner of the room where Virgil was surrounded by the sides. I smiled at the proud look on Virgil’s face, at the look of pure emotion on Logan’s, at the silent awe on Roman’s, at the tear filled joy on Patton’s.

“You know… they may have been meant to stay in your head and not in our lives but… I don’t think I could be any happier at whatever force allowed them to be here.”

Mark nodded, “If they weren’t here, I’d never have met my amazing Prince Charming. I couldn’t be more glad to have them in our lives.”

Thomas nodded, “Honestly having them around has made our lives so much fuller. And they’ve managed to help me with my issues without giving me a headache.”

“We’re glad we appeared too,” Patton chimed in making us look at them.

Logan nodded with a smile, “It may not be logical but I’d love to thank whatever magical being made us human. It’s been an amazing experience.”

Roman smirked, “I met my perfect Prince so I couldn’t more thankful.”

Virgil smiled at me lovingly, “And I met my perfect match and have two wonderful little girls to show for it. I’ll never be happier than now.”

I looked down again at the girl in my arms and smiled softly. Yep, I’m sure that this little adventure was way better than I hoped.


	38. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A happy ending

“Mom! We’re home!” 

I came out of the kitchen my eyes widening when I saw Faith’s face. Roman entered hesitantly with a very sheepish look. I immediately ran at which caused him to run around to the other side of the couch with a small screech.

“Roman Mitchells! What the hell happened to my daughter’s eye!?”

He dodge around to the opposite end of the couch as I ran at him again, “Please don’t kill me!”

I heard the door open and close again before a big sigh, “Virgil! Would you come get your fiancee off my husband before she actually murders him!?’

Virgil jogged out and hugged my waist as I lunged at Roman who squealed and hid behind Mark, “Okay! Let’s talk like adults here. What happened?”

“Our 8 year old daughter has a black eye! I swear I let you take them to the park  **once** and you get my daughter injured!”

“Excuse me, Miss soon-to-be Sanders! But your daughter left for the swings and then came back with black eye! She said she wanted to wait to tell the story until we got home! Now hush and let your daughter explain!” Mark sassed with a small glare. 

I stuck my tongue out at him before kneeling down to look at Faith’s eye, “How did this happen honey?”

Faith smirked, “Well this boy came up to us and asked if Vanessa was single. I gladly told him where he could shove his request. Then he had the nerve to say he didn’t want a girl who had faggots as parents anyway. I guess he saw us with Uncle Roman and Uncle Mark. Anyway, I shoved him and he punched me. Then I got really mad and shoved him off the playground which may or may not have sprained his wrist.”

I sighed deeply, “Honey, I love your protectiveness and all. But I swear to all that is holy if you come home with another black eye or  **any** injury again, I will take away every electronic you own.”

She got a fearful look, “Not my drawing tablet, right!?”

I smirked, “No, but I will take your laptop. Now go with daddy and get some ice on that eye.”

Virgil chuckled picking up our daughter and whispering loudly, “Good job scrapper.”

I hit the back of his shoulder when he walked past me making him laugh. Vanessa looked up at me with a guilty gaze. 

I smiled kneeling down again and brushing her blonde hair behind her ear, “It’s not your fault sweetie. Your sister is hot headed and would fight with anyone hurting her family.”

She smiled nodded, “Thanks mom.”

I chuckled, “Now go make sure your bag is packed. School starts tomorrow.”

She nodded rushing off. I stood up shaking my head at my daughters’ antics. Mark cleared his throat pointedly motioning to Roman.

I rolled my eyes, “I’m sorry I blamed you. I’m not sorry for chasing you though. Cause your screams are hilarious.”

Mark rolled his eyes, “You’re an idiot.”

I smiled, “You love me. Are you staying for dinner?”

Roman shook his head, “We have a double date with Thomas and Gio.”

I nodded hugging them quickly before we said bye. I saw Faith run to her room before I joined Virgil in the kitchen. I hugged him from behind and buried my face in his back.

“I’m not going to make it through her teen years.”

Virgil snickered turning to hug me to him, “Come on, it was one time. I’m sure she’ll get better.”

I gave him a look with pursed lips, “Or she’ll be like me and start fighting for sport.”

He laughed kissing my forehead, “Maybe we should get her into boxing or something.”

“Oh yeah, let’s weaponize her even more. Great idea Virge,” I joked sarcastically.

He simply kissed me deeply to shut me up. We only parted when the house phone rang. I quick grabbed it and answered.

“Hello?”

“Hello, is this the Sanders residence?”

“Yes.”

“Whom am I speaking to?”

“Hope Daniels, soon to be Sanders. Who is this?”

“This is the adoption facility. We wanted to let you know that Mason has been approved and is ready to be picked up.”

Tears immediately sprung into my eyes as I covered my mouth for a moment, “Really?”

She chuckled, “Yes, really. I’m guessing we’ll see you soon?”

“Yes! Yes! We’ll be there right away!”

We said our byes before I turne and pulled Virgil into a deep loving kiss. He pulled away with a slightly startled look. 

I smiled at him as I held back my tears, “Mason was approved! We can go pick him up!”

Virgil broke out into a wide smile, “Seriously?!” I nodded and he picked me up and spun me around, “Yes! Let’s get ready! You go tell the girls!”

I jogged back knocking on both their doors, “Girls, get dressed! We’re going somewhere!”

“Don’t tell us where or anything!” Faith shouted back sarcastically.

“Don’t sass me missy! I will take away everything you love!”

Soon we were all ready and in the car. We pulled up to the adoption center, which is where Faith and Vanessa realized what was happening.

Vanessa smiled widely, “He was approved?!”

I nodded, “Get ready to have a big brother!”

“Yes!” Faith cheered highfiving Vanessa.

We all got out and headed inside. We signed a few more papers before Mason came out with a half smile. I immediately pulled the 13 year old into a hug as tears finally broke from my eyes. He hugged me back just as happily. Virgil ruffled his brown hair before both the girls tackled him in a hug nearly sending him to the floor.

Raina, the social worker who’s been helping us, smiled, “Now all you need to do is complete the post-approved visits. You only have two since you’re basically model citizens. And then the finalization hearing.”

I nodded shaking her hand happily, “Thank you so, so much.”

“It’s my job dear. Now go be happy.”

Mason smiled at me sheepishly, “Um so… Can I call you mom now?”

More tears burst from my eyes as I hugged him again, “Of course honey.” I pulled back with a watery smile, “Welcome to the family Mason.”

“Thanks mom.”

We all decided to go out for ice cream before heading home. I began to think over everyone’s lives over the past 8 years.

Roman and Mark were the first to announce that they were getting married. It was an amazing wedding held at Disney World. They had agreed that watching the kids all of us had was enough for them and decided against having any of their own. 

Logan and Patton never got married, due to Logan’s negative statistics on the subject and the fact that they were happy as they were, but they did end up adopting a kid of their own. A cute little girl called Leia, who ended up being a big smart ass like Logan. She just turned 10 recently. 

Then there was Thomas who met the Italian man of his dreams, a chef named Giovanni, or just Gio. He fell in love the first time Gio made him pizza. They just recently got enaged and planned to have a Disney themed wedding as well.

Then there’s Virgil and I who have been engaged and planning our wedding the last 8 months. We ended up wanting another child but agreed to adopt, mainly because we wanted to help a child who needed a loving home. Mason has caught our eye and we quickly fell in love with the idea of calling him our son. And finally after the long torturous adoption process, we had been approved. 

I smiled as Virgil put ice cream on Faith’s nose making her smear whipped cream on his jacket. We all laughed at this enjoying our moment as a family. It was honestly so amazing.

I said it before and I’ll say it again. Having four personality traits pop into our lives wasn’t that bad, in fact, I’d say it was the best thing that ever happened to us.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _______________________
> 
> Thank you all so, so much for reading my story. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did. Next story will be posted right after this. It's a Harry Potter story about the next generation of kids. Hope you all will enjoy and stay with me through this journey of writing.


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